The Scarlet Empress
by Count Morningstar
Summary: While taking a trip out of Heartland, Rio encounters an old friend she hasn't seen since the duel that ended up putting her in the hospital. This chance encounter causes Rio to realize feelings for this friend that she never fully explored. Meanwhile, and ancient evil begins to rise. Takes place during Vampire Papillon.
1. From the Past

**Author's Note:** Going into this story, I can't shake the feeling that a lot of the people who read it aren't going to like it because of the story's main romantic pairing. But this is a story that I've been wanting to tell for quite a long time now. This story is also one of the reasons why I abandoned my original ZEXAL Alternative idea, because it seemed like this story was too big to confine to my original idea. I don't know exactly how many times I've reinvented this story. I had to make some really major changes after I finally decided to abandon ZEXAL Alternative and just do _Vampire Papillon_. But I think the time has finally come for me to get this story off the ground.

So a few small things before getting into this tale. First of all, it takes place two years after the events of the anime. And as i mentioned in the summary, the events of this story take place during roughly the same time as the other story I just did, _Vampire Papillon_. Another thing I should mention is that the rating of this story may go up. It kind of depends on how far I want to take things. All that said, on with the show.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

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><p>Chapter 1: From the Past<p>

It was almost noon as sixteen-year-old Rio Kamishiro sat looking out the window of the plane she was on. In the distance she could her plane's destination, a small city of mostly black and dark-grey buildings by the ocean known as Obsidian City. Rio was not alone on her trip to the city below. Her young green-haired doppelganger, Iris was sitting in the seat next to her with her nose buried in a magazine. In the seat next to Iris was a beaded man wearing an outfit similar to the kind an archeologist from an action movie might wear. This of course was the girls' chaperone on the trip, Kazuma Tsukumo.

The trip that Rio was on was more of a vacation than anything else. Over a week ago, someone had requested Kazuma's help in investigating some old ruins on an island across the water from Obsidian City. One of the teachers at Heartland Academy had gotten wind of this trip, and with Kazuma's agreement decided to reward the student with the highest score on the most recent exam with the chance to go with on the expedition. Rio had managed to get the top and had decided to go, as it seemed like it might be an interesting trip. She had also managed to arrange things so that Iris could go on the trip as well. Rio felt that the trip would be a good experience for the younger girl.

Within a few minutes, the plane finally touched down at the small airport of Obsidian City. The small bump of the landing gear hitting the tarmac caused Kazuma to awaken from the nap he was taking.

"Looks like we're here." Iris observed.

"We're supposed to meet Dr. Faker and Mr. Arclight at the airport, right?" Rio recalled.

"That's the plan." Kazuma replied. "They were supposed to have gotten here three days ago."

In moments, the plane had finished landing and allowed the passengers to disembark. As Rio and her companions made their way through the airport terminal, they found a somewhat odd-looking and very familiar duo waiting for them. One was an older man with bright orange hair wearing mostly black. The other was a person who appeared to be a boy with long very light-blonde hair tied in a braided ponytail that was slung over his left shoulder. The boy was dressed in blue and wore a strange iron mask. This duo of course was Kazuma's two friends, Dr. Faker and Byron Arclight.

"There you two are!" Kazuma greeted as he and the girls approached. "I hope you haven't been waiting for too long."

"Not at all." Byron replied. "Faker and I have only been here for a few minutes."

"I still don't see why you dragged me along on this trip." Faker grumpily told the blonde man-child. "I have work that I could be doing back in Heartland."

"Come now, Faker. You're long overdue for a vacation." Byron pointed out. "Besides, Kaito and Christopher are more than capable of handling things in our absence."

"He's right, Faker. Loosen up." Kazuma told the former mad scientist as he gave him a hard pat on the back. "It's not like your son's going to open a portal that unleashes a hoard of blood-sucking monsters from another dimension while we're here."

"Speaking of your sons, aren't Thomas and Michael supposed to be here too?" Rio asked.

"Yo!" a familiar voice spoke in answer to Rio's question.

Rio turned to see a young man with reddish-brown and yellow hair with a vertical scare under one of his eyes wearing a brown leather jacket with a yellow shirt and long white pants. This was Byron's second-oldest son, Thomas Arclight.

"Guess that answers that question." Rio responded.

"You guys have an okay flight?" Thomas asked.

"More or less." Rio answered. She then noticed that someone was still absent from the group. "Where's Michael?"

"He's been taking part on a local duel tournament that's been happening all over the city." Byron explained. "He's actually supposed to be in the final match in about an hour from now."

"Hey dad, don't you think we should get going now?" Thomas asked. "We don't want to miss Michael's duel."

"Patience, son. We still have to meet with the one who asked Kazuma to come here in the first place." Byron reminded him.

"Excuse me." A voice interrupted. "Would one of you happen to be Kazuma Tsukumo?"

The group looked, and standing before them was a young man who looked to be about seventeen or eighteen wearing a black suit with a grey shirt and red tie. He had pale skin and long very dark-brown hair that obscured his left eye. His right eye, on the other hand was a very striking emerald green.

"I'm Kazuma Tsukumo." The adventurer answered.

"A pleasure to finally meet you in person, sir." The young man greeted. "I'm Dante Fairbanks, the one who requested your assistance."

"I wasn't expecting you to be so young." Kazuma admitted as he shook Dante's hand.

"Yes, I'm afraid I get that a lot." Dante replied. "I assume the people with you are friends of yours."

"That's right." Kazuma confirmed. "This trip is sort of a vacation for us. I'm just sorry that my wife and kids couldn't be here too."

"Oh. So then I take it this lovely young woman with you isn't a relation of yours?" Dante asked upon turning to Rio. "Might I ask who you are?"

"I'm Rio." The bluenette replied. "Rio Kamishiro."

"Well Rio, I am truly privileged to meet an angel such as yourself." Dante responded before kissing Rio on the hand. He then looked and noticed Iris standing next to her. "Am I to assume the girl with you is your sister?"

"Uh, yeah, something like that." Rio replied. She and her brother had been claiming that Iris was their younger sister to avoid trying to explain Iris' uncanny resemblance to her, which they really didn't have an explanation for. "This is Iris."

"Well Iris, I'm happy to make your acquaintance as well." Dante told her.

"Hey dad, we really should get going now it we want to see Michael's duel." Thomas told Byron.

"Am I to take it that one of your party is taking part in the final duel of the Stone Royale Tournament here in the city?" Dante asked.

"That's right." Byron confirmed. "And Thomas is right, we really should be going now if we want to see it."

"Well then, allow me to provide you all with transportation." Dante offered. "My limo can get us all to the arena where the duel will held in no time."

The group gladly accepted Dante's offer, and a quick drive through the city later they made it to a packed stadium filled with people eager to see the last duel of the city's biggest tournament. Rio and the others had managed to get some seats in the front row to get a good view of the action that was about to take place.

"Welcome one and all to the final duel of the thirty-first annual Stone Royale Tournament!" a male voice announced over the stadium PA system. "We've seen some fiery duels all over the streets of our fair city yesterday. Now comes the final match to decide this year's champion. Our first contestant comes all the way from Heartland City. Please give a warm Obsidian City welcome to Michael Archlight!"

The youngest of the three Arclight Brothers walked up onto the stage in the middle of the stadium. When Michael glanced back, he noticed Rio and the others sitting in the stands and waved at them.

"And now, coming all the way from Neo Domino City is Michael's opponent." The announcer continued. "Please welcome Cleo Atlas!"

Rio's pinkish eyes widened upon hearing the name of Michal's opponent. Meanwhile walking onto the opposite side of the stage was a young woman who looked to be about eighteen. She was tall with fair skin and violet eyes, and long black hair that went half way down her back. Her face had very regal-looking features that could make one think she was a member of royalty. The young woman's outfit consisted of a black leather jacket with a red t-shirt, tight grey jeans and black boots. Hanging from her neck by a thin silver string was a small snowflake-shaped pendant encrusted with blue gems.

"It's nice to meet you." Michael greeted to Cleo. "I hope you and I can have a fun duel."

Cleo said nothing to Michael. Instead she simply put on her D-Gazer and waited for the signal to start.

"By decision of the coin toss, Cleo shall have the first turn." The announcer continued. "Let the duel begin!"

With that, Cleo and Michael activated their duel disks as everyone in the audience activated their own D-Gazers. The color of the surrounding area in the stadium changed slightly, signaling that the duel was ready to start.

Cleo drew her first card. "First I shall set three cards on the field. Then I summon Archfiend Heiress in Defense Mode!"

Appearing on Cleo's side of the battlefield in a kneeling position was a girl with purple skin and a head of hair made of transparent purple tentacles. On her back was a tattered black cape, and a demonic-looking skull with large curved horns covered the top half of her face.

"I end my turn." Cleo announced.

Michal scowled a bit as he drew his first card. He took a moment to look at his hand before making his first move. "I set one card on the field. Then I summon Chronomaly Colossal Head in Defense Mode!"

Appearing on Michael's side of the field was a large black stone carved in the shape of a head. The face of the head had yellow eyes, and on the top of the head was a thick red stripe.

"Looks like Michal's playing defense for this first turn." Thomas observed. "I guess I would too if my opponent had three face-down cards out."

"On the other hand, it seems your brother has prepared an excellent counterattack." Dante spoke. "From where I'm sitting I can see the cards in his hand. The card he set on the field was the Trap, Xyz Backlash. If his opponent summons an Xyz Monster, Michael's Trap will destroy it and deal 1000 points of damage for each of its overlay units."

"Cleo won't use an Xyz Monster." Rio told them.

"How do you know that?" Thomas asked.

"Trust me. I know." Rio told them.

"I end my turn." Michael announced.

"That's it?" Cleo asked. "I was hoping that since this was the final duel of this tournament, I'd finally be facing someone who'd be more of a challenge. But it looks like you're just another weakling, just like all the other worms I've faced in this tournament. I hardly know why I even bothered to take part."

"Are you going to make a move or not?" Michael asked.

"Oh don't worry. I'm going to make your demise a quick one." Cleo assured him as she drew her next card. "I summon Phantom King Hydride in Attack Mode!"

Materializing on the battlefield was a knight on the back of a black horse with a blonde tail and mane. The knight was clad in silver armor and long blonde hair peeked out from beneath his helmet.

"And now I activate my Trap, Shapesister!" Cleo announced.

Suddenly appearing next to Cleo's other monsters was a blob of silver liquid metal. The metal began to change shape and formed into the top half of a female figure with red eyes. Growing from the back of her head in place of hair were long thick silver tendrils that each ended with a sharp point.

"A Trap Monster?" a surprised Michael observed.

"Not just a Trap Monster, a Tuner." Cleo observed with a smirk. "Hydride is a Tuner as well. But I can use him as a non-Tuner if needed. So I now tune the level two Shapesister into the level three Archfiend Heiress and level three Phantom King Hydride for a level eight Synchro Summon!"

Shapesister's body flashed orange before changing into two rings of green light. The rings encircled Cleo's other two monsters and changed them into six white stars.

"The ruler's heartbeats will now file through here! Take witness to its creation-shaking power!" Cleo chanted. "Synchro Summon! My very soul, Red Dragon Archfiend!"

The stars flashed and became a massive pillar of white light. The light faded after a moment to reveal a muscular black and red dragon with three tan horns on its head. The two horns on the sides of its head curved forward, while the third horn went straight back. Michael and most of the audience members were completely shocked upon seeing the dragon. The only one who wasn't shocked was Rio.

"No way…" Michael spoke. "Red Dragon Archfiend? Then… you must be…"

"So you finally figured it out." Cleo spoke. "I am Cleopatra Elizabeth Atlas, daughter of Jack Atlas! Prepare to be crushed!"

"Jack Atlas's daughter?" Thomas exclaimed. "How'd Michael end up with an opponent like her?"

"I attack Colossal Head with Red Dragon Archfiend!" Cleo announced. "And at this moment I activate my second Trap, Strike Slash! This card not only raises my dragon's ATK to 3700, it allows it to inflict damage even when destroying a monster in Defense Mode!"

The dragon struck the stone head with a punch covered in a massive ball of red flames. The large stone carving shattered apart, and Michael's life points dropped to 1900.

"Now I activate my final Trap, Lineage of Destruction!" Cleo announced. "Since I just destroyed a monster in Defense Mode, this card allows Red Dragon Archfiend to make a second attack!"

"What?" Michael exclaimed.

"Red Dragon Archfiend, attack this weakling directly!" Cleo commanded. "Absolute Power Force!"

Another large ball of red flames covered the dragon's fist as he moved in to strike Michael. The blow knocked the redheaded duelist onto his back and dropped his life points to zero. The force of the attack also caused the Trap Michel had set in his duel disk to fall out. With the duel at an end, Red Dragon Archfiend vanished and the color of the surrounding area returned to normal. The audience was completely silent.

"A one-turn-kill." Dr. Faker observed. "This girl seems to be as ruthless as her legendary father."

"None of the Trap cards that Cleo used were cards that could block attacks." Kazuma noted. "If Michael had attacked, this duel might've gone differently."

At this point, Thomas left his seat to go down to the stadium floor. Rio followed after with Iris and Dante. Meanwhile, Cleo walked up to Michael and picked up the card that had fallen from his duel disk.

Upon looking at the card, Cleo threw it back in Michael's face. "An anti-Xyz Monster card? That was your defense? Pathetic! A duelist needs to prepare countermeasures for any kind of monster, not just a single kind. I would've had more of a challenge facing a five-year-old. Duelists like you sicken me to no end."

"Hey!" Thomas protested as he stormed up onto the stage.

"And who are you supposed to be?" Cleo asked.

"Never mind who I am!" Thomas shot back. "Where the hell do you get off talking to my brother like that?"

"This worm I just crushed is your brother?" Cleo indifferently replied. "If you think that will earn my sympathy, you're sadly mistaken."

"It's okay, Thomas." Michael told him as he finally got back to his feet. He then turned his attention to Cleo. "You really are good, but do you really need to be so harsh with your opponents?"

"Let me make one thing clear to you both." Cleo responded. "In a duel, the important thing is to crush your opponents and see them driven before you! Anything else is unacceptable."

"Looks like you haven't changed a bit since the last time I saw you." Rio spoke as she walked onto the stage.

Cleo's eyes went wide upon seeing the blunette. "Rio? …Is… is that really you?"

"It's been a long time, hasn't it?" Rio replied.

"Uh, yes… yes it has." Cleo agreed. "You look well."

"Thanks." Rio replied. "Now do you mind laying off my friends?"

"These two are friends of yours?" Cleo realized. "I see…. In that case I apologize for some of the things I just said."

"That was truly a magnificent performance, Ms. Atlas." Dante declared as he walked onto the stage with Iris. "You are a credit to your father's legacy."

"Are you another one of Rio's friends?" Cleo asked.

"Actually, I only just met Rio this afternoon." Dante admitted. "But I would like you to know that I am a huge fan of your father's."

"Thanks." Cleo replied. "Now if you'll excuse me, I should probably be going now. It was really nice to see you again, Rio."

With that, Cleo began to walk down the steps of the stage. Half way down, she tripped and fell the rest of the way. The dark-haired girl grumbled to herself as she got to her feet and dusted herself off. When she was done, Cleo silently walked away from the stage.

"What a bitch!" Thomas declared.

"She's really not that bad." Rio told them. "Cleo's sort of… an acquired taste."

With the tournament over, people left the stadium in droves. Dante took Rio and the others back to the hotel where they were going to be staying for the duration of the trip. Rio and Iris had ended up sharing a room with twin beds. It wasn't the biggest room the hotel had, but it was fairly large and quite clean. After each of the girls picked which bed they were going to use, Rio began to unpack her bags.

"Pretty big day so far, huh?" Rio remarked.

"Yeah." Iris agreed as she sat on the side of her bed. "So how do you know that girl, Cleo? Is she a friend of yours?"

Iris's question caused Rio to pause in her unpacking. She knew that Iris or one of the others was going to ask that question at some point, yet at the same time hoped that nobody would. Cleo was kind of a hard subject for her to talk about.

"…I met Cleo a long time ago in Heartland." Rio revealed. "And yes, we were friends."

"Hard to believe that you could be friends with someone so mean." Iris remarked.

"Cleo may seem rough on the outside, but in reality she's a very kind person." Rio told her. "We ended up becoming very good friends during the time she was in Heartland."

"When did the two of you meet?" Iris asked.

"It was the winter before that little accident that put me in the hospital for a long time." Rio answered. "Cleo and her parents were staying in the city at the time. They ended up having to leave soon after I was put in the hospital."

"That accident you're talking about, is that the duel you had with Thomas back when he was calling himself IV?" Iris asked.

"That's the one." Rio confirmed as a look of sadness came to her face. "Cleo and I had a pretty big fight about me going to see Thomas almost right before it happened. I never saw her again after that. At least not until today."

"So you never patched things up?" Iris asked.

"She didn't even come to see me after I wound up in the hospital." Rio answered.

"Well, maybe this is the chance for you and her to patch things up." Iris suggested. "You still like her, right? Why not take this time for you and her to talk things out?"

Rio had to admit that her younger twin had a point. Fate had brought her and Cleo together again, and perhaps there was a reason for that. If Rio had any regrets, one of the biggest was how she and Cleo had left things. She was very hesitant though. While it did seem like there was a chance for her and Cleo to patch things up, there was also a very real possibility that all she and Cleo would end up doing was open up old wounds.

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Sorry if this story is kind of starting off slow. I had actually thought about waiting until I get the second chapter done before putting this story up, but I'm not really sure when I'm going to have the second chapter done. I haven't really had a lot of time on my hands lately. The Trap card that Michael didn't use in this first duel is a card that I had made up for this story. In my own way, I was kind of trying to make a point about how everything was all about Xyz Monsters in ZEXAL.

Pleas review and let me know what you think.


	2. Black on Red

**Author's Note:** In case anyone hasn't figured it out yet, this is going to be a yuri story. Just thought I should go ahead and mention that now in case some of you reading don't really like that kind of thing. Another thing I should mention, and I forgot to say something about this in the intro, is that this story is kind of a sequel to the 5D's Alternative trilogy I did last year.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

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><p>Chapter 2: Black on Red<p>

A little over an hour had gone by since the duel between Michael and Cleo. Iris had found a movie to watch on one of the local T.V. stations. Rio had been trying to watch the movie as well, but she was having a very hard time keeping track of what was going on in the film. Her mind was still on what to do about Cleo. She want to try and speak to her again about what had happened the last time they saw each other, but she didn't know exactly what to say or where to begin. Plus it seemed to be a moot point, as she didn't even know where Cleo was in the city.

Rio was stirred from her thoughts by a sudden knock on the door. She got up to answer while Iris continued to watch the movie. Upon opening the door, Rio found Dante standing on the other side.

"Hello again, Rio." Dante greeted. "I hope I'm not disturbing you and your sister."

"Not at all, Dante. Come on in." Rio replied as she stepped aside to allow him entry.

"I just finished inviting Mr. Tsukumo and his friends to dinner tonight as my villa, and I wanted to extend you and your sister as well." Dante explained as he walked in.

"Iris and I would love to come." Rio agreed.

"Marvelous." Dante replied. "I also wanted to ask you for a little favor. I'm aware that you're acquainted with Ms. Cleo Atlas and I was wondering if you could extend my invitation to her. It would be a real treat for me if she could come."

"Well… I suppose I could try. But this was afternoon was the first time I've seen Cleo in years." Rio told him. "I never expected to run into her here. I don't even know where to find her."

"That question I can answer for you." Dante told her. "As it so happens, Ms. Atlas is staying in this very hotel. In fact I just saw her across the street looking out at the ocean. She still might be there, actually."

Rio was surprised to hear that Cleo was also staying at the hotel. It seemed that fate really was trying to bring them back together. It also meant that Rio had lost her best excuse for not trying to see Cleo again.

"Well then, I guess in that case I'll ask Cleo is she can come tonight." Rio finally agreed.

"Excellent." Dante replied as he pulled out a scrap of paper and began to write something down. "This is the time and place. If Ms. Atlas wishes to come, she can use this to find it."

"I'll make sure she gets it then." Rio replied.

"I'll see you again tonight." Dante told her before leaving the room.

"So, are you going to go see Cleo?" Iris asked as soon as the door shut, not once taking her eyes off the screen.

"…I guess I am." Rio replied after a moment.

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><p>Cleo leaned forward against the railing by the sidewalk as she starred out at the island across the water from the city. Her mind had been on Rio ever since she ran into her at the stadium. It was almost like a dream bumping into Rio again years after the way they had parted before. Cleo looked at her snowflake necklace for what was probably the tenth time in an hour. She had gotten that necklace from Rio during that winter in Heartland. Cleo had worn that necklace ever since, as it was the only thing she had left of Rio.<p>

For the last hour, Cleo had been playing back that final argument she and Rio had, just as she had done many times before. It all began when Rio had told Cleo that she was going to go meet a duelist known as IV. Cleo had heard from her father that there were some unsavory rumors about IV and thought that it would be dangerous for Rio to duel him. So she had attempted to talk her out of it. At the time though, Rio didn't believe a single word about those rumors and soon an argument between the two of them had broken out. Things ended up getting out of hand before either of them knew it, and in the end Rio had stormed off. That was the last time Cleo had seen Rio before that afternoon.

At the time, Cleo's main reason for not wanting Rio to duel IV was out of fear for her safety. But there was another reason as well. It had seemed like Rio had something of a crush on IV, and that was something that Cleo just couldn't stand. Then again, it seemed that something like that was inevitable. After all, Cleo was probably just kidding herself thinking that Rio shared the same feeling she had for her.

"There you are." A very familiar voice spoke, causing Cleo to turn. Cleo's violet eyes widened upon seeing Rio. "I was told I might find you here. Mind if I join you?"

"Uh, not at all." Cleo agreed.

Rio walked up to the railing. "It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

"Very." Cleo agreed. "I'm sorry again for how I acted towards your two friends earlier."

"Don't worry about." Rio told her. "…Cleo, there's something I need to know. How come you didn't visit me in the hospital after what happened?"

"I wanted to. In fact I tried." Cleo revealed. "But your brother wouldn't let me see you. I wanted to try and come at a time when he wouldn't be there, but I my family and I had to leave the city the next day."

"…Dammit, Ryoga." Rio cursed under her breath. She took a quick deep to calm down. "Well… I guess you know that you were right about IV. That duel really was a bad idea."

"I take absolutely no pleasure from that." Cleo told her. "I only wish I could've changed what happened. I'm sorry for how I acted that time."

"I'm sorry too." Rio replied. "Look, all of that's behind us now. I'd really like for things to be the way they were before that argument."

A smile came to Cleo's face. "I'd like that too."

"Hey! You're still wearing that necklace I gave you." Rio noticed.

"Of course. I wear it every day." Cleo told her.

Rio blushed a little upon hearing this, though she didn't really understand why. "So, um, there's another reason why I came to find you. You remember my friend, Dante?"

"The one who said he was a fan of my father's?" Cleo recalled. "What of him?"

"He's invited me and my friends to dinner at his villa in the city tonight and wanted you to come too." Rio explained. "Actually, I'd also really like it if you came."

"Well then, for you I'll go." Cleo told her.

"Great." Rio replied as she pulled out the slip of paper with Dante's address. "This is where it is. You could get a rid there by yourself, or you could come with the rest of us."

"Don't worry. I've got my own ride." Cleo replied.

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><p>The evening came, and Dante's limo brought Rio and the others to a white two-story mansion atop a hill on the outskirts of the city. As they exited the back of the vehicle they say Dante standing atop the steps in front of the door wearing a white blazer and slacks with a black dress shirt. Hanging from his neck by a black string was an odd crystal pendant in the shape of a diamond.<p>

"Good of you all to come." Dante greeted. "It looks as though just about everyone has arrived."

Suddenly another vehicle pulled up behind the black limo. It was a large red wheel with a seat and controls inside. The driver of the large wheel was Cleo. After she removed the red helmet she was wearing, the dark-haired girl exited the wheel and began to make her way up the steps.

"What the hell's she doing here?" Thomas asked.

"I was invited, and Rio asked me to come." Cleo explained.

"Delighted you could come, Ms. Atlas." Dante told her. "Now then, if you'll all follow me, our dinner awaits."

With that, Dante led the others to the mansion's large dining room. The conversation during the meal was fairly light. Much of it consisted of Kazuma telling stories about some of his previous adventures. At the same time, Rio had quickly introduced Cleo to the rest of the group. Though there were a few things that Rio didn't tell her about her friends. For one thing, she decided to leave out the part about Thomas being the infamous IV. She thought it best to keep that bit of information a secret for a while.

"So Dante, just what is it that you do exactly?" Michael asked during a pause in the conversation.

"I was wondering when someone would ask me about that." Dante replied with a small chuckle. "I'm a card designer for Industrial Illusions."

"You mean you actually make cards for Duel Monsters?" a surprised Iris asked.

"Indeed." Dante confirmed. "I've designed several cards, some of which have yet to be released to the public. I'm also something of a duelist myself. In fact, I confess that one of my main reasons for inviting Ms. Atlas here tonight was to ask her for a chance to duel her."

"You want to challenge me?" Cleo asked.

"You are of course free to decline." Dante told her. "I probably won't be much of challenge for you. I'm an amateur at best."

"Well… I guess I could take you on." Cleo agreed. "Dueling against a card designer could be interesting."

"Splendid." Dante replied. "Let us adjourn to the courtyard to have our duel."

Dante led the others to the large courtyard out behind the mansion. Cleo and Dante took their positions in the middle of the yard while the others stood by to watch. Everyone activate their D-Gazers, and as soon as Cleo and Dante activated their duel disks the color of the surrounding area changed slightly and the duel began.

"I'll let you have the first turn." Dante decided.

Cleo drew her first card. "I summon Dark Resonator in Defense Mode!"

Appearing on Cleo's side of the battlefield was a small demonic-looking creature with a grey horned helmet that covered its entire head. The only parts of its face that visible was a pair of glowing red eyes and a grinning mouth filled with short white fangs. It had on tattered dark-purple robes with a wide red collar, and on its back was a mass of circular brass objects that looked like cymbals. Hanging down the front of its robes was an orange and green banner. In its right hand, the little demon carries a large tuning fork, and in its left was a thin metal rod with a blue orb at the end.

"I set one card on the field and end my turn." Cleo announced.

Dante drew his first card. "I summon Alexandrite Dragon in Attack Mode!"

Materializing on Dante's side of the battlefield was a winged dragon with a cream-colored chest and stomach and shimmering purple scales. Embedded in its scales were small gemstones of different colors.

"Magnificent, isn't it?" Dante remarked. "This is one of the only level four monsters with 2000 ATK and no negative effects."

"Am I supposed to be impressed by that?" Cleo indifferently asked. "Are you going to attack me, or what?"

"Before I do, I think I'll play it safe and activate a Spell card, Stamping Destruction." Dante announced. "Because I have a dragon on the field, this card lets me destroy your set card and inflict 500 points of damage."

Alexandrite Dragon roared and stamped the ground with its right foot. The ground shook momentarily and the tremor caused Cleo's large set card to shatter apart. Cleo's life points took a slight drop to 3500.

"Now then… Alexandrite Dragon, attack Dark Resonator!" Dante commanded. "Shimmering Flare!"

"I use Dark Resonator's effect!" Cleo quickly announced. "Once per turn, Dark Resonator can't be destroyed in battle!"

Dante's jeweled dragon reared back its head and spewed out a stream of multicolored flames. Dark Resonator raised his tuning fork and metal rod to block the flames. The rainbow-colored fire struck an invisible barrier that formed around the little demon.

"I guess I'll end my turn then." Dante decided.

Cleo drew her next card. "I summon Mist Archfiend in Attack Mode!"

A white mist gathered on Cleo's side of the battlefield and quickly took the shape of a demon. Much of its body was orange-red and it had a black skull-like face. It had large black ribs on its torso and its arms ended in large black claws. On the demon's back was a pair of black bat-like wings.

"Looks like Cleo's about to summon her dragon again." Michael assumed.

"I tune the level three Dark Resonator into the level five Mist Archfiend for a level eight Synchro Summon!" Cleo announced.

Dark Resonator clinked his tuning fork against his metal rod before changing into three rings made of green light. The lights encircled Mist Archfiend and changed the demon into five white stars.

"The ruler's heartbeats will now file through here! Take witness to its creation-shaking power!" Cleo chanted. "Synchro Summon! My very soul, Red Dragon Archfiend!"

The stars flashed and ignited into a pillar of white light. The light quickly faded to reveal Cleo's red dragon.

"Red Dragon Archfiend, destroy Alexandrite Dragon!" Cleo commanded. "Absolute Power Force!"

A large fireball formed in the palm of the red dragon's right hand. Red Dragon Archfiend struck the smaller dragon, causing it to shatter apart. Dante's life points dropped to 3000.

"I end my turn." Cleo announced.

Dante calmly drew his next card. "I'm going to give all of you a treat and show you the very first card I ever designed. I summon Koumori Diamond Dragon in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on Dante's side of the field was a small dragon with shining white scales. It had a serpentine body with a single pair of legs with black claws and two black bat-like wings.

"Admittedly, this card is only a redone version of a card from the very early days of the game, but its effect makes up for its lack of originality." Dante continued. "When Koumori Diamond Dragon is summoned to the field, I can summon another dragon from my hand. I summon the Tuner monster, Delta Flyer!"

Appearing next to the diamond dragon was a second dragon with a slender gold body. It had a long blue cord-like tail and a pair of wings tipped with large white blade-like feathers.

"I activate Delta Flyer's effect and raise Koumori Diamond Dragon's level from four to five!" Dante announced. "Now I tune the level three Delta Flyer into the level five Koumori Diamond Dragon for a level eight Synchro Summon!"

Delta Flyer flashed orange and changed into three rings of green light. The rings encircled Dante's other dragon and changed it into five white stars.

"The monarch's heartbeats shall now file through here! Bare witness to its earth-shaking power!" Dante chanted. "Synchro Summon! My unbreakable will, Black Dragon Archfiend!"

The five stars turned from white to black and exploded into a pillar of crackling black energy. The energy soon faded to reveal a pitch-black and grey dragon that looked very much like Red Dragon Archfiend. There were some significant differences though besides the dragon's coloring. Its three horns were straight and made of an odd white crystal. The same sort of white crystal covering its chest and shoulders like armor, and on each of its forearms was a large white crystal shard that looked similar to a shield. On each side of the dragon's mouth was a set of three small white tusks.

The rest of the group was stunned upon seeing Dante's black dragon. Though no one was more shocked than Cleo.

"Black Dragon Archfiend? I've never heard of such a card!" Faker spoke.

"Same ATK points. Same level. Same type." Michael observed. "It's like a mirror image of Cleo's dragon!"

"Fairbanks! Explain yourself!" an outraged Cleo ordered.

"This is a card I made exclusively for myself." Dante explained. "I made it as sort of an homage to your father."

"How dare you insult my family's dragon by making this cheap knockoff!" Cleo protested. "I will make you pay for this!"

"I think the term, 'cheap knockoff' is a bit harsh." Dante calmly responded. "If anything, you should feel honored. In my own way, I've improved upon Red Dragon Archfiend's original design and effects."

"So what happens now?" Iris asked. "Both dragons have the same ATK, which means they'd only destroy each other, right?"

"Quite right, my dear." Byron confirmed. "A battle between these two would only end in a stalemate."

"I'm not so sure." Kazuma spoke as he put his hand to his chin. "I get the feeling that Black Dragon Archfiend has an effect that will give it an edge in this battle."

"Black Dragon Archfiend, attack your counterpart!" Dante commanded. "Unbreakable Diamond Force!"

"Fight back, Red Dragon Archfiend!" Cleo ordered. "Absolute Power Force!"

The crystal shard on Black Dragon Archfiend's right arm began to glow with a white light as he swung his fist at his mirror image. At the same time, another large ball of red flames formed in the palm of Red Dragon Archfiend's palm as he took a swing at his new rival. The red dragon's fireball impacted the side of Black Dragon Archfiend's face, while the black dragon's glowing fist struck the red dragon in the abdomen. As expected, Red Dragon Archfiend shattered to bits upon being struck, but to everyone's surprise Black Dragon Archfiend was unharmed.

"What… what is this?" Cleo asked. "How can that knockoff dragon of yours still be on the field?"

"Black Dragon Archfiend cannot be destroyed in battle." Dante explained. "Seems I failed to mention that earlier. But I will mention now is that Black Dragon Archfiend has yet another very unique effect. When he attacks and destroys a monster with the same ATK points, he gains a second attack this turn. Not only that, his ATK rises to 4000 until the end of the turn."

"What?" Cleo exclaimed.

"Black Dragon Archfiend, attack Cleo directly!" Dante commanded. "Unbreakable Diamond Force!"

The black dragon moved in and swung his fist at Cleo as the shard on his arm glowed brighter. The blow from the attack knocked Cleo onto her back and reduced her life points to zero. With the duel at an end, Black Dragon Archfiend vanished and the surrounding area returned to normal.

"Hah! Awesome!" Thomas declared with a triumphant smirk. "Serves her right."

"Well, I think that was a superb test of my Black Dragon Archfiend." Dante declared. "That was the first time I ever got to use it in a duel. It is admittedly a prototype."

"Don't you think it's unfair to use a card that you made yourself like that?" Iris asked Dante.

"Not at all, dear Iris." The brown-haired card designer answered. "The great Maximillion Pegasus himself had made several cards for his exclusive use, such as the legendary Toon cards and the fabled monster, Relinquished. What I've done is no different."

"Well you did an amazing job against Cleo, Dante." Rio praised. "And that was a pretty cool dragon you used. I don't think I've ever seen another card with an effect like it."

"Thank you, dear Rio. Your praise means a great deal." Dante replied.

Rio's praise was like a knife in Cleo's heart. Scowling, she finally got back to her feet and began to storm towards the door.

"Oh Cleo, I think there's something else I should tell you." Dante spoke, causing Cleo to pause. "While Black Dragon Archfiend is currently my strongest card, I plan to create a card that's even stronger still. That's the reason why I asked Mr. Tsukumo to come to this city. On the island across the water there's a set of ruins said to contain an ancient stone depicting a dragon even stronger than the one you just saw. I hired Mr. Tsukumo to find that stone for me in order to create a card based on it. The expedition to those ruins is tomorrow, and you're more than welcome to come with. I'm sure it will be the find of the century."

Cleo said nothing and simply looked at Rio. After a moment of silence, she continued towards the door and was gone.

"Ah well. Perhaps she'll change her mind in the morning." Dante assumed. "In the meantime, why don't we all go back into the house for a bit? After all, the night is still young."

* * *

><p>Cleo drove down the road on her D-Wheel at top speed away from Dante's mansion. She wasn't heading in any particular direction. She was just driving. She felt that driving might somehow ease the pain of Rio praising Dante and his knockoff of her family's proud dragon. The sting of that praise was infinitely sharper than the sting of the cold wind hitting her face as she sped down the road. Rio's praise of Dante was the only thing that was more painful than the shame of being beaten by that imitation of Red Dragon Archfiend. The only thing that could've deepened her shame was if her father had been there to see her defeat.<p>

Suddenly Cleo could hear the clear sound of laughter in the air as she drove. What was startling about the laughter was that it was in her voice.

"What a pathetic sight you are." The voice spoke. "A weak little girl like you could never be worthy of the name, Atlas."

Cleo ignored the voice, thinking that it was just her own mind chewing her out. Yet she couldn't help but feel like it was an actual person speaking to her. Even so, Cleo continued to speed down the road to try and clear her mind.

* * *

><p>Dante walked through the halls of his villa alone towards his study. Rio and the others had only just left moments ago. Upon opening the door to the study, he quickly noticed that the large window behind his desk was open when it wasn't supposed to be. He could also make out the outline of two figures in front of his desk. Upon turning on the lights to the room, Dante saw that it was a pair of fairly young-looking men. One of them was a bit muscular and had bright orange hair shaped almost like a flame. An off-white mask resembling a dinosaur skull covered the top half of his face. He also had on an olive-green muscle shirt and a pair of camouflage pants, along with black boots and a pair of fingerless black gloves. The other young man was slender and very pale with stringy black hair. A red visor covered his eyes, and he had on a sleeveless black shirt with a grey vest and long grey pants.<p>

Another person would've immediately called the police upon finding two masked strangers in his home. But Dante instead calmly headed for his desk as if nothing was amiss.

"I take it that one of you gentlemen is Mr. Brimstone." Dante assumed.

"That's me, pal." The masked redhead replied. "The guy with me is my partner, Splicer."

"S'up." The dark-haired man greeted with a wave.

"Hope you don't mind we let ourselves in." Brimstone continued.

"Not at all." Dante replied as he reached under his desk and pulled out a silver briefcase. "Though it would've an issue if you had barged in on me while I was with my guests." He then handed the briefcase to Brimstone. "Here's the first half of your payment, as requested."

Brimstone opened the case to find several stacks of money inside. "Sweet! So what's the job?"

"I need you to kidnap a girl for me." Dante explained as he pulled out a picture of Rio from the deck drawer and handed it to Brimstone. "As fortune would have it, she will be accompanying me on the little trip I'm about to take."

"Well hell, dude! What do you need us for then?" Brimstone asked. "I mean Splicer and I don't mind an easy payday, but it doesn't seem like you even need hired guns like us for something like this."

"At the moment, my plans require a certain amount of anonymity." Dante explained. "When you come to capture her, I will pretend not to know anything about you or what's going on."

"Okay, I think I get the picture." Brimstone replied as he pocketed the picture. "So why do you want this girl anyway? I mean I don't give a damn either way, but I'm kind of curious."

"She's part of an exquisite scheme for revenge." Dante explained. "It's too complicated to explain at the moment, but I can say with certainty that very soon my ancient grudge with Cleo Atlas will finally be settled."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> When I decided to abandon my original ZEXAL Alternative concept, I soon realized that the story for Rio and Cleo would need a new villain. I was pretty stuck on the idea for said villain until one morning when I saw the dubbed rerun of Kaito's very first duel against Mizael in the anime. I suddenly got the idea during that episode that the villain for this story could use some kind of dark version of Red Dragon Archfiend. That's how the idea for Black Dragon Archfiend was born. At first I had a small problem with this idea because Red Dragon Archfiend already had an established backstory and was part of its own group of cards. Then I thought that the user for Black Dragon Archfiend could be a card designer that had made the card himself. The design for Black Dragon Archfiend was inspired largely by the movie monster, SpaceGodzilla. But more on that later.

On that note though, I currently have a poll going on my profile page on an idea for a possible Sailor Moon/Godzilla crossover. I'd really appreciate it if some of you reading could take a look at it (poll will be closed by January 2nd).

Please review and let me know what you think.


	3. The Face in the Ruins

**Author's Note:** Just to remind everyone (in case I forgot to mention it before) this story and _Vampire Papillon_ are indirect sequels to my 5D's Alternative trilogy. This story in particular could be considered a sequel to _5D's Alternative Book 2: The False King_. So events will be following that cannon just a little bit. That said, there's going to be a special "guest star" appearing in this chapter. Enjoy.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

><p>Chapter 3: The Face in the Ruins<p>

The hour had grown quite late as Cleo finally returned to her hotel room. The ride she had taken had helped her to clear her head a little, though it didn't do much to ease the shame of losing to Dante and his knockoff dragon. Nor did it ease the pain of Rio praising Dante for his victory. As Cleo flopped onto the bed on her back, her D-Gazer suddenly began to ring. She pulled the device out of her pocket and her face went a bit pale upon seeing the Caller ID. The person calling her was Jack Atlas, her father.

It took a second for Cleo to realize that her father was probably just calling to see how she was doing. There was no way he could know about her being beaten by Dante. After taking a deep breath, Cleo finally put the device on and activated it. Appearing before her eye was the image of a man with blonde hair and violet eyes like her own.

_"Hello Cleo."_ Jack greeted. _"How are you?"_

"I'm fine, dad." Cleo answered. "I, um… I won the tournament in Obsidian City today."

_"Yes, I heard."_ Jack replied. _"Part of the reason I called was to congratulate you. But there's something else though, isn't there Cleo? You may have won that tournament… but you also lost to someone tonight, didn't you?"_

Cleo's eyes went wide in shock. "How… how did you…?"

_"Just a feeling I had."_ Jack answered. _"That feeling was confirmed the moment you answered my call. I can see it in your eyes, Cleo. And I can tell that it was a very crushing defeat, wasn't it?"_

"…Yes… yes it was." Cleo answered sadly.

Jack nodded. _"I suppose it was only a matter of time before something like this happened. I had experienced the same kind of defeat once before myself."_

"You had?" a surprised Cleo asked.

_"It happened before you were born. Right before I met your mother, in fact."_ Jack answered. _"I had dueled your uncle Yusei and lost big. But that defeat showed me that I had let myself become weak, and from that defeat I drew new strength. Cleo, that defeat was a test for me, just as your defeat will be a test for you. A test for the fire of your soul."_

"What do you mean?" Cleo asked.

_"You can either let this loss consume you, or you can defy it and come back even stronger than before."_ Jack replied. _"If the fire of your soul burns bright enough, you can conquer any opponent and make any power yours. But if you let that fire go, you will be forever lost."_

"I think I understand what you're saying." Cleo replied. "I won't let the one who beat me tonight get away with what he's done."

Jack smiled and nodded. _"That's the kind of spirit I expect from my daughter. I'll let you go and get some rest. Goodnight, Cleo."_

"Goodnight, dad." Cleo replied.

After shutting her D-Gazer off, Cleo took a deep sigh and closed her eyes. Almost as soon as she did though, she could hear the sound of laughter in her own voice fill the room.

Cleo quickly sat up on the bed. "Who's there? Show yourself!"

_"If you insist."_ The voice replied.

Appearing to lean against the wall across from her was a young woman who looked exactly like Cleo. The only major difference was that her eyes were completely black except for a pair of purple irises. The woman was also dressed a little differently from Cleo. She had on a red leather jacket rather than a black one, and there was no snowflake necklace hanging from her neck.

"Who or what are you?" Cleo asked.

_"Oh, I have so many names."_ Cleo's doppelganger answered. _"For the time being, you can just call me the Crimson Devil."_

"What is it that you want?" Cleo demanded to know. "And why the hell do you look like me?"

_"I thought you'd be flattered that I took on your appearance."_ The Crimson Devil replied.

"I've had enough of dealing with cheap knockoffs for tonight." Cleo told her.

_"I assume you're talking about that black dragon that you lost to."_ The Crimson Devil responded. _"That's actually one of the main reasons why I'm here. I can help you defeat that dragon. In fact, with my power you can conquer this entire world if you want. No one would ever be able to stand against you."_

"And what would you be getting out of this?" Cleo asked. "I'm guessing you wouldn't be making this offer if there wasn't some kind of catch. Am I supposed to give you my soul in exchange or something? Because if you are, you can forget it! I know stories like that don't end well."

_"Now why do you have to be so negative, Cleo?"_ the demon asked. _"I'm giving you a really good offer here. I'm giving you true strength. The kind of strength a weak little girl like you could never have on your own. If you joined with me, anything in this world can be yours."_

"I'll pass, thank you." Cleo told her. "I don't need any kind of help from you."

_"Don't turn me down just yet."_ The Crimson Devil told her. _"Think it over for awhile. I'll come back later to see if you've changed your mind."_

With that, Cleo's demon twin vanished in a flash of crimson flames. Cleo sighed again and fell back onto the bed. She began to wonder if she was starting to lose her mind. She had seen some strange things in the past, but a demon in her own form offering her power had taken the cake. After a few moments, Cleo finally brushed off what she had just seen as a result of her being tired and managed to fall asleep.

* * *

><p>Though the night had grown quite late, Rio and Iris were still wide-awake in their hotel room. Obsidian City was a few hours ahead of Heartland, and the two girls weren't quite ready to go to sleep. So they decided to spend a couple of hours watching a movie they came across on late-night T.V.<p>

"Hey, you know that conversation you had with your brother earlier this afternoon before dinner?" Iris suddenly asked. "You know, that one where he talked about that girl he likes?"

"I thought you were asleep for that." A surprised Rio recalled.

"I was for the beginning, but I heard most of the rest." Iris revealed.

"Oh…" Rio replied. "Well, what about it?"

"Well, I was just thinking about that thing you said to Ryoga about how it was about time for him to get a girlfriend." Iris explained. "Do you think that maybe it's about time you did the same thing?"

"Excuse me?" Rio replied, caught completely off guard by Iris's question.

"You know, start seeing people." Iris explained. "You did make a good point. I don't pretend to know much about the lives you and your brother have led as humans, but I do know that neither of you have been dating anybody. If he's going to start seeing that girl, Hikari, then maybe you should start seeing somebody too."

"Well… I suppose." Rio admitted. "Look, it's getting late. We should probably go to bed now."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Iris agreed. "The movie's pretty much over anyway."

With that, the two of them said goodnight to each other and turned out the lights. As Rio tried to get to sleep, she couldn't help but think about what Iris had just said. For such a young girl, she could be very insightful at times. Iris had made a very good point. If her brother was going to go on the dating scene, then perhaps it was time for her to do the same thing. Of course unlike her brother, Rio couldn't think of a single person she might be interested in that way. She did have several admirers of course. Her looks had caused her to gain a rather large fan base at her school. Yet she had never considered getting romantically involved with any of those admirers.

After a little while, Rio finally let the matter drop and began to drift off to sleep. But as she did, an image of Cleo ran through her mind.

* * *

><p>The morning came, and Rio and the others waited outside the hotel for Dante's limo to arrive to pick them up. Many of them were still very drowsy due to the time difference between Obsidian City and Heartland. Faker was the one complaining the most about having to get up so early. The only member of the group who was completely awake was Kazuma, who was very used to getting up very early in the morning. After a few minutes, the limo finally arrived and Dante got out the back.<p>

"Good morning, everyone!" Dante cheerfully greeted. "I trust you're all ready to depart."

"Fairbanks!" a familiar voice interrupted. Rio and the others looked to see Cleo heading towards them.

"Ah, Cleo. Decided to take me up on my invitation after all?" Dante assumed.

"I came here for one reason, Fairbanks! I'm here to challenge you to a rematch!" Cleo told him.

"Looks like somebody's a sore loser." Thomas remarked.

"I see." Dante replied. "I'd be happy to grant your request for a rematch, but under one condition. You must come with us on our expedition. And I will only duel you after we find what I'm looking for."

"And what if you don't find this thing you're after?" Cleo asked.

"Oh trust me. I'm going to find it." Dante confidently assured her. "It's only a matter of time."

"…Fine then." Cleo grudgingly agreed. "But you better not be wasting my time."

"Oh I assure you, dear Cleo that this trip will be a very enlightening experience for all of us." Dante replied.

With that, everyone except Cleo got into the limo. Cleo had decided to follow them using her D-Wheel. Within just a few minutes they had arrived at the docks where a small ferry was waiting for them. As soon as everyone was aboard and the supplies were loaded, the boat took off for the island across the water. Cleo stood at the front of the boat with her arms crossed looking out towards the island. As she looked, Rio quietly walked up to stand next to her.

"Hey, Cleo?" Rio spoke, getting the taller girl's attention. "I'm glad you decided to come with to the island."

"I'm only here for one reason, and that's to get back at Fairbanks." Cleo told her.

"Are you really that upset over losing that duel?" Rio asked.

"That duel was an insult to me and to my father!" Cleo declared. "That dragon Fairbanks created is a mockery of our family's proud symbol."

"Is it really that big of a deal?" Rio asked. "Dante said that he made Black Dragon Archfiend because he admired your father. I'd think you'd be honored."

"I would've thought you of all people would've understood." Cleo coldly told her. "But I can see I was wrong."

"Cleo, I…" Rio began.

"Magnificent view, isn't it?" Dante interrupted as he and the others came out to look at the island. "We should be arriving at the island in just a few minutes."

"What exactly is this island we're going to?" Cleo asked.

"It's come to be called Fireheart Island, and thousands of years ago it was the home to a kingdom ruled by a legendary woman conqueror known as Sonja the Scarlet Empress." Dante explained. "As the story goes, Sonja was originally a slave girl. But at the tender age of thirteen she killed the island's original ruler and led an army of slaves and successfully took over. Every nobleman and slave owner in that kingdom was summarily executed up Sonja's takeover. Afterwards she began to conquer the lands surrounding the island. Some say that if the reign of the Scarlet Empress had lasted longer, she might've actually conquered the known world."

"What stopped her?" Michael asked.

"There was one man who stood to oppose Sonja at the height of her rule." Dante continued. "A warrior prince who had come to be known as Zahn the Black Diamond due to his penchant for dark clothing and unbreakable will. He was also a relative of the ruler that Sonja had assassinated when she began her rise to power. According to legend, Sonja and Zahn clashed in a legendary battle that ended in neither side winning."

"So this thing you're after is somewhere in the ruins of Sonja's kingdom?" Iris deduced.

"Quite right." Dante confirmed. "The legends also say that Zahn had also attacked Sonja's kingdom in order to reclaim the stone tablet that was the symbol of his family's power. It's that very same tablet that I need to complete my ultimate card."

"So that's why you're so insistent that I wait to duel you until after you find this thing." Cleo realized. "Well no matter what card it is you're trying to make, I shall still see you driven before me!"

"We shall see about that, dear Cleo." Dante smugly replied.

Eventually the boat finally arrived at Fireheart Island. The group came ashore and headed for the dense forest at the edge of the beach. Kazuma led the way through the thick trees, having to cut through a thick vine every now and then to allow them to pass. Eventually they came out of the forest and on the other side found the vast ruins of what used to be a kingdom with a large castle made of sundried brick.

"Wow! This place is amazing!" an impressed Michael declared.

"Mr. Tsukumo, what we're looking for should be somewhere inside the castle." Dante told him.

"Well, that should make finding that tablet a little harder to find." Kazuma observed. "But then what's an adventure without a challenge? We'll set up camp outside the castle and go in a little later to investigate."

As they began to walk through the old ruins, Rio began to look around. "You know… there's something about this place that seems a little familiar to me."

"Funny. I was just thinking the same thing." Cleo revealed.

Within a few moments the group came to a set of steps that led down to the castle. As they came near, a large bronze statue came into sight. That statue depicted a young woman who appeared to be about eighteen wearing ancient battle armor on parts of her body. Her right hand was raised in the air holding a double-bladed axe. When Cleo and the others got close enough to the statue that they assumed to be of the legendary Scarlet Empress, they noticed something very shocking. The face of the statue looked exactly like Cleo's.

"What the hell?" Thomas exclaimed. "What's going on here?"

"Cleo, do you know anything about this?" Rio asked.

Cleo was at a loss for words. She was more shocked than anyone to see that the statue of this legendary ancient ruler had her face. But there was something else about the statue that greatly unsettled her. The midriff of the statue was bare, and carved on her stomach was a symbol that looked like a serpentine dragon holding a heart in its front claw. It was a symbol that was all too familiar to her.

"I… I don't understand." Cleo spoke. "This can't be real!"

As Cleo and the others tried to figure out the meaning behind the odd statue, Dante stood behind the others with a smirk on his face. Everything seemed to be going his way.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> The conversation that Iris mentioned in this chapter is one that took place in _Vampire Papillon_. I was going to edit that conversation and add it to this chapter, but I quickly realized that said conversation took place in the middle of the afternoon and the beginning of this chapter took place at night. Guess I didn't think things all the way through during the planing stage. Sorry about that.

On a different topic, this will probably be the last update I'll be making to this story for the next two or three days. I have some work to do for this one class I'm taking and it involves a lot of reading. Also, my grandmother ended up in the hospital this morning. She's in fairly stable condition at the moment, but things could go either way. Anyway, until a little later this week, I guess.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	4. Brimstone

**Author's Note:** So as it turns out, I was able to finish the latest assignment for my online class a lot sooner than I thought I would. So without further ado, here's the next chapter.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

><p>Chapter 4: Brimstone<p>

Cleo and the others had decided to stop and take a break before the ruined castle to have a late breakfast, which many of them had failed to have before leaving on the boat. As they ate in the shadow of the large bronze statue of Sonja, Cleo couldn't stop trying to figure out why the statue had her face. One theory Cleo had was that the statue was some elaborate scheme of Dante's to mess with her head. The only problem she had with that theory though was that the statue also had a very familiar symbol carved on it. And it didn't seem likely to Cleo that Dante would know anything about that particular emblem.

"Am I the only one who thinks it's weird that the hunk of metal we're eating under looks like Cleo?" Thomas asked, breaking the long silence that had been hanging over the group since they sat down to eat.

"I'm just as shocked as all of your." Dante told them. "I've studied long and hard on the legends of Sonja the Scarlet Empress and I never had any idea that she bore any resemblance to Cleo."

"Maybe Cleo is Sonja's reincarnation." Iris theorized. "It wouldn't be the first time we came across something like that."

"The Crimson Dragon!" Michael suddenly spoke, getting everyone's attention.

"The what now?" a confused Thomas asked.

"That symbol that's carved on the statue's stomach." Michael explained. "I've been trying to remember where I've seen it before. This one book I read once talked about a sort of deity called the Crimson Dragon. The seal of the Crimson Dragon is what's carved on the statue."

"We find an old statue that looks like someone we know and you focus on a carving?" Thomas asked.

"Now, now Thomas. Your brother may have found a clue about what we've just found." Byron pointed out.

"I've heard of the legend of the Crimson Dragon as well." Kazuma revealed. "Most of the legends say that the dragon's a protector of Earth and often chooses a group of people called Signers to help carry out its work."

"It's no legend." Cleo suddenly revealed. "I guess I might as well show you all now."

With that, Cleo took her jacket part of the way off and revealed her bare right arm to the others. On her forearm was a prominent red mark resembling a pair of wings.

"So you got a tattoo. Big deal." Thomas indifferently responded.

"It's not a tattoo, you dolt." Cleo told him as she put her jacket back on. "It's more like a birthmark. Of course I'm not really sure it can be called that either."

"That mark looked like the wings of that dragon symbol on the statue." Rio quickly realized.

"It's one of the marks of the Crimson Dragon." Cleo explained. "Those of us who have them are called Signers. As Mr. Tsukumo just said, they're a group of humans who're chosen by the Crimson Dragon to help protect the world from evil. Each Signer is marked with a different part of the dragon. I have the wings, and my cousins possess the marks representing the other parts of the dragon."

"How long have you been one of these Signers?" Rio asked.

"My cousins and I were chosen by the Crimson Dragon about two years ago to help fight a powerful enemy that had risen." Cleo explained. "I've been one ever since. Before me, my father was the Signer who bore the wings of the Crimson Dragon on his arm."

"So does this mean that Sonja was one of these Signers too?" Iris asked.

"I honestly have no idea." Cleo replied. "The only one I know who has the full seal of the Crimson Dragon is my younger cousin, Robin. But she has it on her back."

"This does shed some light on another part of the legend of Sonja." Dante interjected. "It's said that Sonja ended up as a slave because she had been born with a mark that people at the time thought was a sign of evil. But if the legends of the Crimson Dragon are indeed true, than it seems that those ancient people were mistaken. For all we know Cleo, we may be looking at a statue of an ancestor of your and your father's."

"Whatever." Cleo responded.

"Well, in any case we may be able to uncover the mystery behind this statue during our search for what we came here for." Dante assumed. "For now though, let's save this matter for another time."

* * *

><p>Brimstone watched the group through a pair of binoculars from atop a nearby hill overlooking the castle. Splicer meanwhile was lounging on the ground, leaning back against a large rock.<p>

"Well, is our target there?" Splicer asked.

"Oh yeah, she's there alright." Brimstone confirmed with a grin. "There's also some younger girl there who looks just like her, but with green hair and different eyes."

"Does Fairbanks want us to catch her too?" Splicer asked.

"If he does, he'll have to pay us double." Brimstone replied as he put away the binoculars. "These kidnapping gigs are hard enough with us having to nab just one person. I'll stick with catching the blue-haired girl."

"I can help, if you want." Splicer asked.

"Nah, I think I can handle this on my own." Brimstone told him. "Seems like a pretty easy job. Probably won't take me more than four or five minutes."

"Whatever." Splicer replied.

"Just sit back and take it easy." Brimstone told him. "I'll be back in a flash."

* * *

><p>As Cleo and the others began to pack things up and begin their exploration of the castle, they suddenly heard the loud noise of what sounded like an engine. The looked and saw Brimstone speeding towards them on the back of a motorcycle with a front end styled to look like a dinosaur skull that had browned with age. The masked man laughed manically as he came toward them.<p>

"What the hell's going on?" Thomas wondered.

"That motorcycle he's on looks like a D-Wheel!" Cleo noticed.

"Let's rampage, Jurrac Velo!" Brimstone called out as he placed three cards on the duel disk consul of his vehicle.

Suddenly appearing to run alongside Brimstone's vehicle were three identical creatures that resembled velociraptors. They all had light-green bodies with blue feet and hands and red heads that showed off the features of their skulls. The three raptors picked up speed and ran towards the group and began to shoot fireballs at them. One of the flaming projectiles struck an old pillar and caused it to break in half.

"What the… how can he summon monsters to do real damage?" Michael asked.

"Damn! He's a psychic duelist!" Cleo realized.

As the raptor pack split up the surround the group, one of them shot another fireball that went straight for Rio's head. Cleo saw it coming and quickly pushed Rio to the ground to get her out of the way. The fireball continued past them to hit the ground. Meanwhile as Rio and Cleo fell, Cleo hit the side of her forehead on the side of a fairly large rock.

"Cleo!" a concerned Rio called as she tried to shake her awake. It was clear that she was out cold.

Meanwhile, Brimstone's three dinosaurs suddenly vanished almost as soon as they had finished surround Cleo and the others. Brimstone stopped his vehicle and began to walk towards them.

"Well damn! Looks like I got a little carried away again." Brimstone spoke as he approached. "Wouldn't be the first time, I guess. But if I had accidentally killed the girl I was supposed to nab, I wouldn't get paid."

"Who the hell are you?" Thomas demanded to know.

"The name's Brimstone." The masked man replied. "And I'm here to take that girl there." He then pointed at Rio.

"Why are you after me?" Rio demanded to know.

"Hey, I'm just a hired gun." Brimstone replied. "The guy who paid me didn't say why he wanted you, and in my line of work I've learned not to ask too many questions."

"You won't get away with what you're trying to do!" Dante declared.

"As if you chumps could do anything to stop me." Brimstone scoffed.

"If you're after Rio, than you're gonna have to get through me!" Thomas declared.

"You wanna take me on, punk?" Brimstone asked. "Fine with me. I might as well have a little fun while I'm here. Let's do this!"

With that, Thomas activated his D-Gazer tattoo while one of the red lenses of Brimstone's skull mask turned yellow. The others activated their D-Gazers as well and the color of the surrounding area quickly changed. As soon as Thomas and Brimstone activated their duel disks, they were ready to begin.

"If you don't mind, I'll start this party off." Brimstone declared as he drew his first card. "First I activate the Spell card, Fossil Dig to add a Dinosaur monster to my hand. And now I'll summon that very same monster to the field in Defense Mode. Say hello to Jurrac Stauriko!"

Materializing on Brimstone's side of the battlefield was a fairly small blue and green dinosaur with a long neck and tail. On its back were three ridges made of red flames.

"That ends my turn." Brimstone announced.

Meanwhile as the duel progressed, Dr. Faker went over to check on Cleo. Rio was finding it hard to concentrate on the duel with Cleo unconscious.

"Is Cleo going to be okay?" Rio asked.

"As far as I can tell, she's just been knocked out." Dr. Faker answered. "She should wake up in a bit."

"Cleo got hurt trying to protect me." Rio spoke as a tear came to her eye. "I'm not sure if I could take it if anything happened to her."

Back in the duel, Thomas drew his first card. "I summon Gimmick Puppet Egg Head in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on Thomas's side of the battlefield was a strange-looking marionette with a red egg-shaped body and a face on the front. It had slender white arms and legs, and on top of its body was a piece of brown hair that could be considered a fancy wig.

"What the hell is that thing?" a noticeably disturbed Brimstone asked. "That monster of yours is as creepy as hell!"

"I activate Egg Head's effect!" Thomas announced. "By discarding one card from my hand, Egg Head can inflict 800 points of damage!"

Egg Head's mouth opened up and fired a single fireball at Brimstone. The masked duelist was hit in the chest by the projectile and his life points took a slight drop to 3200.

"Now I activate the Spell card, Junk Puppet!" Thomas announced. "With this card I can summon another Gimmick Puppet from the Graveyard. Say hello to Gimmick Puppet Dreary Doll!"

A large black chest resembling a coffin appeared on the battlefield next to Egg Head. The lid of the box came off, and sitting up inside it was a doll that looked like a little girl with curly blonde locks wearing a blue dress. The doll looked Brimstone and the word "mama" escaped its mouth.

"Geez! That's thing's creepier than the egg toy!" Brimstone declared. "You trying to give me nightmares or something?"

Thomas's lips curved into a sinister grin. "Oh, I'm gonna give you a nightmare alright. It's been awhile since I've had to do this, but I'm gonna show you my fanservice."

"Whoa! I haven't seen that look on Thomas's face in a long time." A somewhat unsettled Michael declared. "He's not going to hold anything back in this duel."

"I activate the Spell card, Level Doubler!" Thomas announced. "With this card I double Egg Head's level from four to eight! Now I overlay the level eight Egg Head and the level eight Dreary Doll to Xyz Summon Gimmick Puppet Noble King!"

A large swirling vortex appeared in the middle of the field and Thomas's two doll monsters were pulled in after being turned into balls of orange energy. Rising out of the center of the vortex a moment later was a large mechanical doll made to look like a king. It had an oversized head with a jaw like that of a ventriloquist dummy. Its styled hair was painted to look grey, and atop his head was a tiny gold crown. The puppet had on what looked like a sequined blue coat with a white shirt with frilled cuffs. In his right hand, he carried a large sword, and orbiting around him were two balls made of yellow light.

"Noble King, take out that dinosaur monster!" Thomas commanded. "Royal Trick Sword!"

With a mechanical motion, the puppet king raised his right arm and his upper body rotated slightly to the left. His body then swung back and his arm came down. As soon as it did, the blade of the sword extended and cut Brimstone's monster in half.

"No problem. When Stauriko is destroyed, he leave two Jurrac Tokens in his place." Brinstone announced.

At that point a pair of fairly large green eggs appeared on Brimstone's side of the battlefield. The eggs instantly hatched and two infant versions of Stauriko came out.

"You may get two tokens, but I also get to activate Noble King's effect!" Thomas announced. "When Noble King destroys a monster in battle, I can detach one overlay unit to inflict 400 points of damage for the total number of cards in our Graveyards. Once I detach that overlay unit, we'll have a total of four cards in the Graveyard, which means you take 1600 points of damage!"

One of the balls of light orbiting the puppet king went into the top of the crown on his head. The king's mouth opened up and a cannon barrel extended out. Noble King fired a single shot from the cannon at Brimstone. Half way through the air, the projectile exploded and turned into four small missiles that bombarded the masked duelist. When the smoke cleared, Brimstone's life points had fallen to 1600.

"That ends my turn." Thomas announced.

"You know… you're not half bad." Brimstone admitted with a small chuckle. "You and I seem to share the same style. Don't like those creepy-ass dolls of yours though."

"Just make your move already!" Thomas told him.

"Oh, I'm gonna make a move alright. And it's gonna blow you away!" Brinstone declared as he drew his next card. "I sacrifice my two Jurrac Tokens to summon one of the baddest monsters in my deck! Say hello to Jurrac Titano!"

A massive pillar of red flames suddenly enveloped both of Brimstone's infant dinosaurs. The flames soon subsided to reveal a massive creature that resembled a dinosaur almost similar to a t-rex. Its torso was covered in dark-grey scales that resembled dried magma, and on its stomach was a glowing hot line of molten lava. Its head, arms and feet were all red, and growing from the back of its head were several red spikes. The creature's size was so large that it towered over Thomas's monster.

"Right now Titano has 3000 ATK, 200 points more than your creepy puppet king." Brimstone continued. "But by banishing Jurrac Stauriko from the Graveyard, Titano's ATK goes up by 1000 until the end of the turn!"

A ghostly image of Stauriko flew over the field and went into Titano's body. The line of lava on the giant dinosaur's body began to glow even brighter and it let out a mighty roar.

"Titano, make that puppet king extinct!" Brimstone commanded. "Jurassic Meltdown!"

Titano opened its jaws and let loose a massive stream of molten flames that struck Noble King and caused the top half of his body to explode. Thomas's life points took a drop to 2800.

"So much for your creepy-ass doll king." Brimstone remarked.

"Actually, this looks like this is the end for both of us." Thomas told him.

"When Noble King is destroyed by my opponent, the bomb hidden inside his body activates." Thomas revealed. "That bomb destroys all cards on the field and we both take damage equal to Noble King's original ATK."

"But your king had 2800 ATK points, and you only have 2800 life points left!" Brimstone realized.

"Yep. That means we both lose." Thomas confirmed.

The remaining part of Noble King exploded and destroyed Titano in a blinding flash of light. When the light faded, the life points of Thomas and Brimstone were both at zero. As the duel was at an end, the color of the surrounding area returned to normal.

"You wanna go another round?" Thomas dared.

"Nah. I'm done with this crap for now." Brimstone decided. "But I'll be back! Later, chumps!"

Before anyone could react, Brimstone threw a small smoke grenade from his pocket. As everyone coughed from the smoke they could hear the masked duelist drive away. By the time the smoke finally faded, Brimstone was long gone.

"Looks like he got away." Michael observed.

"Why the hell was he even here in the first place?" Thomas wondered. "And why was he after Rio?"

"Brimstone said that someone had hired him to abduct Rio." Dante recalled. "Apparently he's some sort of paid assassin."

"That brings up the even bigger question though of who would want to abduct Rio." Byron pointed out.

"If you'll all excuse me, I'm going to try and contact the authorities in Obsidian City." Dante told them. "Maybe they can give us some help with this matter."

* * *

><p>Brimstone reached the top of the hill to find Splicer standing and watching the group below. Splicer turned as Brimstone dismounted his D-Wheel and walked up.<p>

"That could've gone a hell of a lot better." Splicer noted.

"Ya think?" Brimstone sarcastically replied. "No one told me I'd be dueling a guy who used monsters that looked like the bastard children of Dark Necrofear!"

"C'mon, they weren't that bad." Splicer told him. "But that guy you dueled was pretty good. He could even be a pro. Looks like Fairbanks forgot to mention a few things when he told us about this job."

Suddenly Brimstone's mask began to ring, as did Splicer's visor. Both of them pushed a small button on the sides of their headgear and an image of Dante appeared before their eyes.

_"Apologies, gentlemen."_ Dante told them. _"It seems there was a small oversight on my part."_

"Dammit Fairbanks, why didn't you tell us that there were some hotshot duelists protecting this girl?" Brimstone demanded to know.

_"At the time, I didn't realize who some of Rio's companions were."_ Dante explained. _"Have either of you heard of a duelist known as IV?"_

"I have." Splicer answered. "He's supposed to be pretty good."

"You saying that doll boy is that IV guy?" Brimstone realized.

_"Indeed he is."_ Dante confirmed. _"I didn't realize who he really was until he used those Gimmick Puppet monsters of his."_

"Are there any other hotshots in this group we should know about?" Splicer asked.

_"The only other duelist in the group who could pose a threat is the daughter of Jack Atlas."_ Dante answered. _"But she shouldn't pose too much of a problem."_

"I knew this job was too damn easy." Splicer declared.

_"It seems we're going to need a new strategy."_ Dante decided. _"Meet with me later tonight so we can discuss our new plan of attack."_

"Only if you agree to pay us a hell of a lot more!" Brimstone told him.

_"Don't worry, Mr. Brimstone."_ Dante replied. _"Money is no object when it comes to my plans."_

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> As far as characters go, Brimstone is actually one of my older ideas. He sort of came to be one day after I had finished reading about the Jurrac monsters on the Yu-Gi-Oh! Wiki. Originally I was going to try to work him into a 5D's story, but he ended up in this one because I needed Dante to have a couple of henchmen. So far Brimstone hasn't turned out quite like I had originally envisioned though. Brimstone being creeped out by the Gimmick Puppets is pretty much a reflection of how I've always felt about them. If the Gimmick Puppets were Fiend-type monsters, they'd be perfect cards for Yami Bakura.

On that note, I ended up having to come up with some new Xyz Monsters for Thomas to use in this story. The only Gimmick Puppet Xyz Monsters that he had used in the anime were Numbers. But since this story takes place two years after the anime, using those cards was pretty much out of the question.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	5. Glass Pride

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

><p>Chapter 5: Glass Pride<p>

_Cleo found herself standing before what looked to be a large warehouse that was completely on fire. She could clearly hear a voice calling out to her from inside the burning building. It was Rio's. Cleo attempted to run into the building to save her but suddenly found that her feet were somehow rooted to the ground. She looked down and saw that somehow her feet had sunken into the concrete beneath her like it was mud. Cleo tried to pull herself out but her feet wouldn't budge. The whole time, Rio's voice continued to call out to her from within the blaze._

_Suddenly Cleo began to hear a familiar laugh echo through the air. In moments the Crimson Devil appeared before her, once again taking the form of her evil twin._

_"What a pitiful sight you are." The demon mocked. "That girl you care so much about is burning before your eyes and you can't do a thing to save her."_

_Cleo ignored the demon and continued to try and pull herself out. Suddenly to her horror, the building collapsed with Rio still inside. Cleo called out Rio's name at the top of her lungs as the Crimson Devil continued to laugh._

Cleo shot straight up from where she had been lying down with a scream. It took her a moment to realize that what she had just experienced was a dream. She found she was inside what looked to be a brown canvas tent. At that moment, Iris entered the tent through the flap.

"Glad to see you're finally up." Iris told Cleo. "You okay? I thought I heard you scream."

"…I'm fine." Cleo answered. She then recalled what happened when she was knocked out and began to panic again. "Where's Rio? Is she okay?"

"She's fine. She just out getting some air." Iris assured her. "We've all been a little worried about you. Rio especially."

"…I think I'll go for a walk." Cleo finally decided before getting up.

Iris followed after Cleo as she exited through the flap of the tent. Upon looking around, Cleo found that their campsite had been set up at a place not far from the castle ruins. Night had already fallen, and just about everyone else in the group had gathered around a campfire in the middle of the site.

Michael glanced back and noticed that Cleo had emerged from the tent. "Oh! Ms. Atlas. Good to see you're finally awake."

"Where's that masked duelist?" Cleo asked as she walked up.

"Unfortunately, that masked man got away." Faker answered. "It seems that someone hired him to kidnap Rio for some unknown reason."

"Fortunately Thomas was able to scare him off at least for now." Byron added.

"Yes, we were fortunate that Thomas is such a skilled duelist." Dante interjected. "He truly is worthy of his rather famous reputation."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cleo asked.

"Didn't you know? Our Mr. Thomas Arclight is the famed duelist known as IV." Dante revealed. "Of course I didn't realize it myself until I saw him duel earlier."

Cleo's blood began to boil over upon hearing Thomas was IV. When she looked over at the scarred duelist her anger took over and she went over, grabbed Thomas by the collar of his shirt and punched him in the face. Startled, the others quickly got to their feet.

"Mind telling me what that was for?" Thomas asked as he got back to his feet and wiped his lip.

"You bastard!" Cleo cursed in a low hate-filled voice. "You're the one that caused that accident that put Rio in the hospital!"

"Oh… so you know about that, huh?" Thomas responded.

"Am I missing something here?" Dante asked.

"Yeah. A lot." Michael answered.

"I'll never forgive you for almost taking Rio's life!" Cleo told Thomas. "If I had known who you were from the beginning I would've killed you the moment I saw you!"

"I wouldn't blame you." Thomas replied. "So what're you gonna do about it now?"

"I'm going to make you pay for everything you've done!" Cleo declared. "I challenge you to a duel right here and now!"

"Fine with me." Thomas agreed. "I've been wanting to teach you a lesson ever since you dueled Michael. Bring it on!"

With that, Cleo and Thomas activated their duel disks and D-Gazers. The others quickly activate their own D-Gazers to watch the duel that was about to unfold and the color of the surrounding area changed.

"I'll start this off!" Thomas declared as he drew his first card. "I summon Gimmick Puppet Scissor Arms in Defense Mode!"

Appearing on Thomas's side of the battlefield was a strange-looking mannequin wrapped almost completely in purple-black leather straps. The mannequin was bent over with its arms sticking up behind its back. Both of its arms ended with long blades that connected like a pair of scissors.

"I set one card on the field and end my turn." Thomas announced.

Cleo drew her first card. "I summon Force Resonator in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on Cleo's side of the battlefield was a small demon that looked very similar to Dark resonator. It had a yellow fin-like collar and hanging down the front of its chest was a red and greed banner with a pattern that looked similar to a face. Mounted on its back was a large ornate blue ball with white markings on it.

"I now activate the Spell card, Over Tuning!" Cleo announced. "During a turn when I've summoned a Tuner to the field, I can summon another one from my hand. Appear, Phantom King Hydride!"

Cleo's silver knight appeared on the field on the back of his black horse. The horse reared up on its hind legs for a moment after it materialized.

"So you're using that Tuner that's also not a Tuner." Thomas observed.

"I tune the level two Force Resonator into the level three Hydride for a level five Synchro Summon!" Cleo announced.

Force Resonator raised his hands and shot bolts of yellow lighting into the air from his fingertips. The little demon then transformed into two rings made of green light an encircled Hydride, causing the knight to change into three white stars.

"Ruthless champion of dark justice who patrols this land! Appear before us and mow down these spineless worms!" Cleo chanted. "Synchro Summon! Charge forth, Stygian Sergeants!"

The stars flashed and became a pillar of white light that shot up into the air. The light faded after a moment to reveal a two-headed demon riding the back of a demonic-looking motorcycle with two flashing red lights. The demon's skin was mostly brown in color, and on its back was a pair of bat-like wings. Its two heads slightly resembled that of a lizard and was supported by a long neck.

"Stygian Sergeants, run down that pathetic doll!" Cleo commanded. "Tyrant Wheel!"

The demon revved up its motorcycle and drove towards Thomas's scissor mannequin at top speed. In seconds the mannequin was crushed flat.

"Because Scissor Arms was just destroyed in battle, I can banish him from the Graveyard to summon Gimmick Puppet Twilight Joker from my hand in Defense Mode!" Thomas announced.

Appearing on the field in the place of Scissor Arms was another strange-looking puppet with a dark-blue body and a head covered by a light-blue mask resembling a creepy-looking jester or clown. Its left arm extended into a large scythe.

"That little toy of yours isn't going to help you!" Cleo declared. "When Stygian Sergeants destroys a monster in battle, he gains a second attack and his ATK points rise to 3000 until the end of my Battle Phase! Now Stygian Sergeants, attack again and mow down that useless clown! Tyrant Wheel!"

The two-headed demon once again revved up the engine of its motorcycle. With the red lights of its vehicle flashing, the demon drove towards Twilight Joker at full throttle.

"I activate a Trap, Trick Gear Spring!" Thomas announced. "When a level eight Gimmick Puppet monster I control is attacked, this card negates that attack and deals half the attacking monster's ATK points as damage!"

Just as Stygian Sergeants moved in for the kill, Twilight Joker suddenly swung its scythe at the demon, causing his vehicle to be knocked back. The demon was unharmed, but Cleo's life points had fallen to 2500.

"Since I'm guessing you're going to end your Battle Phase now, the ATK of your motorcycle cop from hell now drops back to 2200." Thomas noted.

"…I end my turn." An irritated Cleo announced.

Thomas drew his next card. "You know, for someone who's related to the legendary Jack Atlas you're not that tough."

"What did you say?" Cleo responded.

"Before tonight I've seen you duel twice now, and I think I've got a pretty good handle on your strategies." Thomas told her. "Beating you is gonna be a cakewalk."

"I'll make you regret underestimating me!" Cleo declared.

"Trust me, I'm not underestimating you one bit." Thomas told her. "I activate the Spell, Card Destruction! Now we both have to discard our entire hand and draw the same number of cards. Next I banish one of the Gimmick Puppet Dreary Dolls I just discarded to summon a second one from the Graveyard!"

A large black box appeared on the battlefield next to Twilight Joker. The box opened up and the blonde doll inside sat up to look at Cleo.

"I overlay my level eight Dreary Doll and level eight Twilight Joker to summon Gimmick Puppet Noble Queen in Defense Mode!" Thomas announced.

A vortex appeared in the center of the battlefield and pulled in the two puppet monsters as balls of orange energy. Rising out of the center of the vortex a moment later was a large mechanical doll in the form of a woman resembling a queen. She had an oversized head with the doll of a ventriloquist dummy, and atop her carved reddish-brown hair was a small golden crown. She wore an ornate pink and white dress with an extremely large skirt and baggy sleeves. In her right hand she carried a golden scepter with two red gems.

"2800 DEF points." Dante observed. "I see. This monster must be the counterpart to the monster Thomas used against Brimstone."

"Gimmick Puppet Noble King may be my deck's ultimate sword, but this card is my ultimate shield." Thomas told Cleo. "This card is the one that's going to take you down!"

"Your pathetic toy queen is no match for my power!" Cleo declared.

"We'll see about that." Thomas replied. "Now make your move."

Cleo drew her next card. "I summon Flare Resonator in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on Cleo's side of the battlefield was another small demon that looked almost exactly like Dark Resonator and Force Resonator. The red banner on his chest depicted a flame, and red flames burned on his back.

"I tune the level three Flare Resonator into the level five Stygian Sergeants for a level eight Synchro Summon!" Cleo announced.

Flare Resonator tapped his tuning fork against the metal rode he was holding and changed into three green rings of light. The rings encircled the two-headed demon and changed it into five white stars.

"The ruler's heartbeats will now file through here! Take witness to its creation-shaking power!" Cleo chanted. "Synchro Summon! My very soul, Red Dragon Archfiend!"

The stars flashed and became a massive pillar of white light that shot into the air. The light faded after a moment to reveal Cleo's faithful red dragon.

"Because I summoned Red Dragon Archfiend using Flare Resonator, he gains 300 extra ATK points." Cleo continued. "More than enough to destroy your little toy queen."

"That's all you can do, just pile power onto power." Thomas remarked. "But all the power in the world isn't going to help you beat my queen."

"We'll see about that!" Cleo told him. "Red Dragon Archfiend, destroy Noble Queen! Absolute Power Force!"

"I activate Noble Queen's effect!" Thomas announced. "By detaching one overlay unit, Noble Queen negates your monster's ATK!"

One of the balls of yellow light orbiting Noble Queen entered the small crown atop her head. The marionette queen's massive skirt began to spin around and created a twister of pink wind. Red Dragon Archfiend attempted to punch through the twister with the massive fireball formed in his palm but was repelled. When the attack ended, the twister subsided and the queen's skirt stopped spinning.

"Each time Noble Queen's effect is used, a Royal Counter is placed on her." Thomas announced. One of the gems on the queen's scepter began to glow red.

"I end my turn." Cleo announced through gritted teeth.

Thomas drew his next card. "I summon Gimmick Puppet Egg Head in Attack Mode!" The orange egg man puppet materialized on the battlefield. "I activate Egg Head's effect and discard one card to inflict 800 points of damage!"

The egg puppet's mouth opened and struck Cleo with a small flaming projectile. Cleo's life points dropped to 1700.

"I end my turn!" Thomas announced.

"I'm going to make you regret that move!" Cleo announced as she drew her next card. "I summon Dark Bug in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on Cleo's side of the field was a small cluster of light-purple blocks. Projecting outward from the mass of blocks were four long grey insect-like legs.

"When Dark Bug is summoned, I can summon a Tuner monster from my Graveyard!" Cleo announced. "Arise Phantom King Hydride!"

Dark Bug glowed with a purple aura and a small black vortex appeared on the battlefield. Hydride rose out of the vortex on the back of his black horse.

"I tune the level three Hydride into the level one Dark Bug for a level four Synchro Summon!" Cleo announced.

Hydride's horse rose up on its back legs before it and the knight turned into three green rights of light. The rings encircled Dark Bug and changed it into a single white star.

"Living gauntlet of power forged of fire and steel! Awaken here and deliver the blow of absolute power!" Cleo chanted. "Synchro Summon! The supreme blow, Armory Arm!"

The star flashed and began a pillar of light, which faded in moments to reveal a monster that looked like a mechanical hand. It had narrow sharp red fingers and a small black shield mounted on the back.

"I activate Armory Arm's effect and equip it onto Red Dragon Archfiend!" Cleo announced. The mechanical hand flew up and covered the red dragon's waiting right forearm. "Any monster equipped with Armory Arm gains 1000 ATK points. And when that monster destroys another monster in battle, Armory Arm deals damage equal to the destroyed monster's ATK."

"Same old tricks." Thomas indifferently responded. "I told you that there's no way you can beat me as long a Noble Queen is on the field."

"Who said I was going after your queen?" Cleo smirked. "You made the mistake of leaving that egg of yours in Attack Mode! One attack from Red Dragon and you're finished!"

"No, wait! That move won't work!" Michael realized from the sidelines.

"Red Dragon Archfiend, obliterate Egg Head!" Cleo commanded. "Burning Absolute Power!"

A massive ball of crackling green energy began to form in the dragon's armored palm. Red Dragon Archfiend raised his armored hand and moved in for the kill.

"I activate Noble Queen's effect!" Thomas announced. "By detaching another overlay unit, Noble Queen negates your dragon's attack!"

The second ball of yellow light orbiting the mechanical queen entered the crown atop her head. The queen's skirt began to spin around again and created a massive pink twister around herself. Red Dragon Archfiend was suddenly pulled towards the twister, causing the ball of energy in his metal palm to strike it only to be repelled. With the attack over, the twister subsided and Noble Queen's skirt stopped spinning. The second gem on her scepter began to glow.

"Like I said, piling power onto power isn't going to help you win this duel." Thomas told Cleo. "Your monsters can have all the ATK points in the world, but against the right card effect all that power is worthless."

"Shut up!" Cleo shot back.

"You know I've just realized something about you, Atlas." Thomas continued. "In the end, all this power of yours is just a crutch. The truth is you're just trying to show off to make yourself feel big. But in the end, you're nothing!"

_"He's right, you know."_ The voice of the Crimson Devil spoke in Cleo's head. _"In the end, you're just a pathetic little girl living in daddy's shadow."_

"SHUT UP!" Cleo shot back.

"Thomas has been in total control of this duel from the beginning." Michael observed. "He hasn't lost a single life point."

"That's because Thomas has been taking advantage of Cleo's anger to manipulate her." Kazuma responded. "Meanwhile, Cleo's been rushing through her moves without thinking them through. It's like she's trying desperately to prove something."

"So are you done yet, or what?" Thomas asked Cleo.

"…I end my turn." Cleo finally announced.

Thomas drew his next card. "First I switch Egg Head to Defense Mode! Then I activate Egg Head's effect and discard one card to inflict 800 points of damage!"

Egg Head opened its mouth and fired another projectile at Cleo. The dark-haired duelist was struck and her life points dropped down to 900.

"I end my turn." Thomas announced.

"This time you're dead!" Cleo declared as she drew her next card. "Now that your toy queen no longer has any overlay units I can get rid of it once and for all! Red Dragon Archfiend, destroy Noble Queen! Burning Absolute Power!"

"Big mistake! I activate Noble Queen's other effect!" Thomas announced. "When Noble Queen is attacked while she has two Royal Counters, I can sacrifice her to destroy all monster on the field in Attack Mode! And for every one of our monsters destroyed by this effect, we take damage equal to the ATK of those monsters!"

Just as Red Dragon Archfiend moved in to strike, Noble Queen raised her scepter and exploded in a blinding flash of light. Red Dragon Archfiend was instantly vaporized in the blast. The shockwave continued and hit Cleo, knocking her onto her back and dropping her life points to zero. With the duel over, Egg Head vanished and the color of the surrounding area returned to normal.

"Looks like you're not such a hotshot after all." Thomas remarked.

"Damn you!" Cleo cursed as she rose back to her feet.

"Cleo!" a very familiar voice interrupted. Cleo looked and saw that Rio had been shown up.

"Rio! How long…" Cleo began to ask.

"How long have I been here? Long enough to see the whole duel." Rio answered. "I was also here when you punched Thomas in the face! How could you do that?"

"Are you serious? That bastard's IV! He's the one who put you in the hospital that time!" Cleo pointed out.

"I know he is, and I've moved past that!" Rio told her. "You do know that he protected us from that freak, Brimstone earlier, right? You should apologize to Thomas for what you did earlier!"

"I don't give a damn what he's done!" Cleo told her. "And there's no way in hell I'll ever apologize to him!"

"I can't believe you can be so stubborn!" Rio responded.

"And I can't believe that you're still such a major idiot!" Cleo shot back. "Anyone else would hate the person who almost killed them, but it seems like you still want to screw him like you did all those years ago!"

At this Rio slapped Cleo in the face. Cleo suddenly realized that she had gone too far.

"I wish I had never run into you again." Rio told her before storming off.

After a moment, Cleo slowly backed away from where she stood and ran off into the woods. She didn't bother to look where she was going. She just needed to get as far away from the campsite as possible. After a few moments Cleo finally stopped in a clearing to catch her breath. Suddenly she heard the familiar laughter of the Crimson Devil.

_"That was quite the little show you put on."_ The Crimson Devil spoke as she appeared. _"The best part was that even if you had gone to save that girl years ago you would've been too weak to do so. And even if you did somehow manage to save her, she wouldn't have wanted anything to do with you."_

"Shut up!" Cleo told her.

_"You know I can change all that."_ The demon offered. _"I can give you true power, the power to crush all those who made a fool of you. I can even help you make that girl yours."_

"Get lost!" Cleo ordered.

"Okay. I can see you're in no mood to discuss this now." The Crimson Devil observed. "But think it over. I'll come back later to talk more."

With that, the demon vanished in a flash of red flames. As soon as she was gone, Cleo slid down against a tree and silently began to cry.

Brimstone and Splicer silently waited by their own little campfire in the woods. A twig snapped, causing them to look and see Dante walking into the light cast by the flames.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, gentlemen." Dante told them. "I ended up getting caught up in other matters."

"So what's plan of yours for us to nab that girl?" Splicer asked.

"I've decided that we're going to need to reinforcements to get the job done." Dante informed them. "Therefore I've called in a specialist of my own to help us. Do not worry. You will still be paid the previously agreed to amount."

"If we're still getting paid, I've got no problem." Brimstone replied. "So who's this other guy you're bringing in?"

"For the time being, let's just call her my secret weapon." Dante replied. "I had hoped that I wouldn't have to use her for this task, but dear Rio's friends have forced my hand."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> The duel for this chapter pretty much ended up writing itself. The funny thing about it was that besides her Synchro Monsters, Cleo didn't use a single non-Tuner.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	6. Heartland Winter

**Author's Note:** I had wanted to get this chapter up last weekend, but I ended up getting sick with a migraine. Then I ended up getting swamped with other things I needed to get done. Of course I probably wouldn't been able to get this chapter up last weekend anyway considering how long it ended up being.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

><p>Chapter 6: Heartland Winter<p>

The sun had only just risen as Cleo emerged from her tent. She hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. Instead she had been replaying her duel with Thomas and what happened afterward over and over again in her head. What Cleo wanted most at that moment was to go back in time to either take back what she had said to Rio or punch her past self in the face for saying it. She had let her anger get the better of her in the worst possible way, and there was a very real chance that Rio wanted nothing more to do with her.

"Hey Cleo!" a familiar voice called.

Cleo turned and saw a single Duel Monsters card flying towards her. She quickly caught it between the fingers of her right hand. She looked at the card and saw that it was a Spell called Double or Nothing. Upon looking to see who threw it had her, Cleo saw Kazuma walking up to her.

"That card might come in handy if you ever getting into another duel like the one you fought last night." Kazuma continued. "Go ahead and keep it."

"Thanks." Cleo responded indifferently as she slipped the card into her pocket.

"I know you've had a couple of pretty hard defeats recently, Cleo. But you shouldn't let them get you down." Kazuma told her. "You're a fine duelist, just like your father."

"…You're wrong." Cleo told him. "I'm a disgrace to my family name. And when it came down to it, I turned out to be too weak to protect what was most precious to me. Not that my protection was even wanted."

"Now that's just not true." Kazuma told her. "You were just trying too hard in that duel with Thomas. I can tell that you're a truly strong duelist."

"Say what you want." Cleo responded as she began to walk off. "It won't erase what I did last night. Nothing will."

* * *

><p>Rio paced back and forth in front of her and Iris's tent. She had been doing so for what seemed like almost an hour. Rio hadn't been able to sleep much because of what happened between her and Cleo after the duel. She couldn't believe that Cleo had assumed that she and Thomas were some kind of item.<p>

After a few more minutes, Iris emerged from the tent. "How long have you been up?"

"I don't know." Rio answered. "I couldn't sleep."

"You know, we probably could've avoided what happened last night if you had told Cleo about who Thomas was sooner." Iris pointed out.

"…Yeah, you're probably right." Rio admitted. "I guess I was afraid of how Cleo might react. And I guess I can't blame Cleo for how she reacted towards Thomas, but that doesn't change what she said to me before! I mean the way she accused me and Thomas of… AHH!"

"Well are you interested in Thomas in that way?" Iris asked.

"No!" Rio told her as she flailed her arms. "And even if I was, it's none of Cleo's business!"

"Jealousy can be an ugly thing." Iris remarked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rio asked.

"Well I can't be sure, but I think Cleo's in love with you." Iris explained.

Rio was caught off guard by the younger girl's words. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me." Iris replied. "That's probably why you and her got into such a big fight before your little accident too."

"You… you actually think that Cleo's in love with me?" Rio asked.

"Pretty sure, anyway." Iris answered.

"You must be imagining things." Rio told her. "I mean… Cleo and I are both girls."

"There are girls who're attracted to others girls, you know." Iris pointed out.

"Well… okay, you have a point there." Rio admitted. "But… do you really think that Cleo is interested in me like that?"

"From the way I've seen her act around you, I think so." Iris answered. "What I'm kind of wondering right now though is if you're interested in Cleo in the same way."

Rio was about to tell Iris that she wasn't, but something stopped her. There was just something about the whole idea of Cleo being in love with her that seemed to strike some kind of cord.

"I… I'm going for a walk in the forest." Rio decided before quickly walking off. "Later."

Iris sighed at this and shook her head. Rather than going back into the tent, she decided to go for a walk of her own to try and find out the other side of the story.

* * *

><p>Cleo stood before the ancient bronze statue of Sonja contemplating why it resembled her. It was the only thing she had to take her mind off of Rio and how she had acted towards her. Looking at that statue, Cleo couldn't see how it was possible how she could resemble some legendary ruler from the past when she herself was so weak.<p>

"There you are." A voice spoke. Cleo looked and saw Iris standing behind her. "I've been looking for you."

"How can I help you, Chibi-Rio?" Cleo asked.

"Well for starters you could never call me that again." Iris told her.

"Sorry. You look so much like her." Cleo replied.

"Anyway, I wanted to ask you something I've been curious about." Iris continued. "I want to know about how you and Rio first met and what happened between you two."

"Rio never told you?" Cleo asked.

"She told me a little bit about when you met and what you fought about, but I'd like to know more." Iris explained. "I was hoping that you'd be able to fill me in."

"Well… I suppose there's no harm." Cleo agreed. "It was over two years ago, not too long before I became a Signer and inherited my father's dragon. I first met Rio the very first evening I was in Heartland…"

* * *

><p><em>The sun was setting in Heartland as a gentle snow began to fall. Though it was still November it seemed that winter had decided to come early to the city. Cleo was out for a walk at that time simply looking around the city. She didn't quite know her way around the streets of Heartland, as it had only been her first day in the city. But she wanted to go out for a bit to stretch her leg. Plus there was always something liked about being outside on a snowy night. The lights of the city and the moon reflecting on the snow somehow seemed to give the world its own beautiful glow, and there had always been something about snow that seemed to remind Cleo of something at the very far reaches of her memory that she couldn't quite name, something precious to her.<em>

_The air was cold enough for Cleo to see her breath. The cold stung her face a bit, but the rest of her was quite warm, thanks to the black winter coat and red gloves she was wearing. Not to mention the red scarf and earmuffs that her mother had forced her to put on before she left the house. As the sun continued to set, the streetlight began to come on. Cleo came upon a small set of steps that led down to a park below. She took the first step only to slip all the way down to the bottom. It was only a few steps however, so she had not been horribly injured._

_"Oh no! Are you okay?" a voice suddenly asked._

_Cleo looked up, and standing before her with a concerned expression was a girl with pinkish eyes, fair skin and gorgeous blue hair. She had a white winter coat with pink mittens and a pink scarf. In an instant, Cleo thought the girl was the cutest thing she had ever seen._

_"I'm, uh… I'm fine." Cleo assured her._

_"Are you sure? That looked like a really bad fall." The blunette told her._

_"It's nothing, really." Cleo insisted as she got back to her feet. "Unfortunately that wasn't my first fall down a set of steps. I had the bad luck of inheriting my mother's lack of coordination."_

_"Oh. Well, if you're sure you're okay." The girl smiled. "By the way, my name's Rio Kamishiro."_

_"It's nice to meet you." Cleo replied. "I'm Cleo Atlas."_

_"I don't think I've ever seen you in the city before." Rio told her._

_"My parents and I just moved here today." Cleo explained._

_"Well if you're hungry, I know of a good place to get a bite to eat near here." Rio offered._

_"I think I'd like that." Cleo agreed._

_With that, Rio led Cleo to a charming little café not far down the street. Once inside, they sat down and ordered some hot chocolate to help them warm up and a couple of pastries._

_"So Cleo, where are you from originally?" Rio asked._

_"I was born in Neo Domino. That's where my parents are from too." Cleo answered. "We've had to move around a lot because of my parents' careers. For all I know I may be in this city for only a week. Then again I may be here for half a year. It's hard to say, really."_

_"That must be hard on you having to move around so much." Rio assumed._

_"I do just fine." Cleo told her. "Over the years I've learned not to become too attached to a single place."_

_"Still, it must be a kinda lonely having to move from place to place like that." Rio assumed._

_"Don't worry about me, Rio. I do just fine on my own." Cleo assured her._

_"Well, it does seem like you're a pretty independent girl." Rio observed._

_"You seem quite independent yourself." Cleo remarked. "I like that about you."_

_"Well, it looks like we have something in common then." Rio replied._

_As the two of them ate and drank their hot chocolate, they ended up talking long into the evening. Rio told Cleo a few things about Heartland and Cleo in turn told her about some of the other places she had been to over the course of moving around. Eventually they found that the hour had grown fairly late and they decided it was time to return home. Rio walked with Cleo back to the apartment building where she and her parents were staying._

_"Are you sure you don't want to come in?" Cleo asked. "I don't think may parents would mind you stopping in. In fact my mother would probably make some annoying fit about how I actually have a friend of some kind."_

_"Some other time, maybe." Rio replied. "If I don't get back soon, my brother will have a fit. He's probably already pacing around the house wondering where I am."_

_"Another time then." Cleo told her._

_"Um, before you go we could at least exchange numbers." Rio suggested. "It'd be easier for us to keep in touch."_

_"Good idea." Cleo agreed, and with that the two of them exchanged phone numbers._

_"Talk to you later." Rio told Cleo before walking off._

_In the days that followed, Cleo and Rio ended up seeing a lot of each other. They didn't see each other during the school day, as Cleo had been enrolled in a more elite private academy in Heartland City. But they would often meet with one another after school, or at least call each other. There was something about Rio that Cleo was simply drawn to. Her days had somehow become brighter for having the blunette around. Cleo had never before had such a close friendship with anyone._

_A little over two weeks had gone by since the evening Cleo and Rio had first met. It was late in the afternoon and the two of them had decided to spend a little time at the Heartland Carnival for a while. As they walked, Rio told Cleo some of the things that had happened during her day._

_"…So anything interesting happened to you today?" Rio asked after finishing her story._

_"Nothing remarkable." Cleo answered. "Someone challenged me to a duel at lunch, but I was easily able to defeat him."_

_"Hey Rio." A voice suddenly spoke, causing the two of them to turn around._

_Standing behind them was a young man who bared a striking resemblance to Rio. He had dark purple-blue hair shaped almost like the tentacles of an octopus. His winter coat was blue with a grey furred collar and he had on a green scarf._

_"Oh, Ryoga!" Rio identified. "What're you doing here?"_

_"Just passing by." Ryoga answered as he approached. "So is that friend of yours that you seem to like so much?"_

_"Yep." Rio cheerfully replied. "Cleo, this is my brother, Ryoga. Ryoga, this is Cleo Atlas."_

_"Atlas?" Ryoga replied with a quirked brow. "You wouldn't happen to be related to Jack Atlas, would you?"_

_"He's my father." Cleo confirmed._

_"I see." Ryoga replied. "Hey Cleo, how come you never told me that your friend here was the daughter was someone famous?"_

_"She is?" a somewhat surprised Rio asked._

_"Jack Atlas is one of the strongest duelists from Neo Domino City." Ryoga explained. "He's also a specialist in Turbo Dueling."_

_"It seems my father's reputation is well known even here." Cleo observed. "So are you a fan of his?"_

_"Not really." Ryoga answered. "I actually think he's a pretty overrated duelist. I could probably beat him if I had the chance."_

_"You better watch what you say." Cleo warned. "This is my father you're talking about, you know."_

_"Or what, you gonna do something about it?" Ryoga asked._

_"If you keep pushing me, I'll have no choice but to put you in your proper place." Cleo told him._

_"Fine then. I'm game." Ryoga dared. "Let's see if the daughter of the great Jack Atlas can beat me."_

_"You're on!" Cleo agreed._

_"Wait! Cleo, Ryoga!" Rio interrupted._

_"Sorry Rio, but your brother has forced my hand." Cleo told her. "It's too late for either of us to back down."_

_"She's right, Rio." Ryoga told her. "Just sit back and watch while I teach your friend a lesson."_

_In moments, a duel between Cleo and Ryoga began. And to Ryoga's surprise, Cleo ended up handing him a swift defeat. Infuriated, Ryoga challenged Cleo to a second duel right then and there. Cleo accepted the challenge and wound up defeating Ryoga again. Refusing to give up, Ryoga challenged Cleo a third time. The duel proceeded swiftly, and towards the end Ryoga's strongest Xyz Monster, Submersible Carrier Aero Shark was defeated by Cleo's Stygian Sergeants._

_"Stygian Sergeants, attack Ryoga directly!" Cleo commanded. "Tyrant Wheel!"_

_The two-headed demon sped forward in the back of its motorcycle and rammed into Ryoga at top speed. Ryoga was knocked backward by the impact of the demon's front wheel and his life points dropped to zero. With the third duel over, Stygian Sergeants vanished and the surrounding area returned to normal._

_"Okay Ryoga, you've lost three times now. Now will you just drop this already?" an annoyed Rio asked._

_"Not yet." Ryoga told her as he got back to his feet. "One more time."_

_"Please, I've already wasted enough time on you." Cleo told him. "I think I've made my point. Any more duels with you would be a waste of my time. If I were you, I'd take Rio's advice and leave now. You're pathetic the way you are right now, and right now I want nothing more to do with you."_

_"…Fine." Ryoga finally agreed. "But this isn't over, Atlas! C'mon Rio, let's go."_

_"I'm not going with you!" Rio told him._

_"What?" Ryoga exclaimed._

_"It's still not that late out, so Cleo and I are still going to spend some time at the carnival." Rio sternly told him. "You can just go home on your own. I'll see you later."_

_Ryoga opened his mouth to argue, but said nothing after realizing that he wasn't going to get anywhere. Instead the water duelist turned around, put his hands in his pockets and grumbled incoherently to himself as he walked off. As her twin brother left, Rio let out a heavy sigh._

_"Rio, I'm sorry if I got carried away before." Cleo told her._

_"Don't worry about it. I don't blame you for what happened." Rio replied. "Sometimes my brother can rub people the wrong way. Anyway, shall we?"_

_"Let's." Cleo replied, and with that they continued off to the carnival._

_More weeks went by, and before she knew it Cleo found that Rio was on her mind almost constantly. She was at a loss as to explain why the younger girl dominated her thoughts so much. But one thing Cleo was sure of what that she had never cared about anyone as much as she did about Rio. The girl was very special to her, but she still didn't quite know why. It seemed like what Cleo was feeling was more than just simple friendship._

_The night before Christmas Eve came, and Cleo and Rio had decided to attend an event known as the Parade of Holiday Lights at the Heartland Carnival. It was one of the coldest nights of the year, but that didn't stop people from coming to the parade. The two girls had managed to get a spot towards the front to watch the event. They stood almost silently as several holiday and winter-themed floats decorated in festive multicolored lights slowly passed before their eyes like decorative glowing icebergs._

_"These floats sure are pretty, huh?" Rio remarked._

_"Yeah." Cleo replied, looking away somewhat nervously. "Hey Rio, I know we probably won't be seeing much of one another over the next couple of days because of Christmas. So I thought I'd go ahead and give this to you now."_

_With that, Cleo pulled a small box wrapped in decorative red and green paper from her coat pocket and handed it to Rio. The bluenette took the box and unwrapped it to find that it was a black jewelry box. Upon opening the box, Rio found a small silver pin in the shape of a penguin._

_"Oh, how cute!" Rio declared. "Thank you, Cleo."_

_"I wasn't really sure if you'd like it or not." Cleo replied. "I'm not good at picking out cute-looking things like that."_

_"Well, since you gave me your gift, I should give you yours." Rio decided as she reached into her own pocket and pulled out a small box wrapped in silver and blue paper._

_Rio handed the box to Cleo to unwrap. It was another small jewelry box covered in blue fabric. Inside was a tiny necklace in the shape of a snowflake_

_"Sorry I couldn't come up with anything more your style." Rio told her. "But I couldn't think of anything else."_

_"It's fine, Rio." Cleo assured her. "I'll treasure this always."_

_At that comment, Rio smiled. Suddenly a gentle snowfall began to come down over the parade. As Cleo looked at Rio in the light cast by the parade and the moon above under that new falling snow, it seemed almost like the girl was giving off her own dazzling glow. She was perhaps the most beautiful creature that Cleo had ever seen. It was in that moment that Cleo realized just why she felt so drawn to Rio, why the bluenette seemed to be dominating her thoughts. She was in love with her._

_More days past, and soon the cold month of December gave way to the even colder and less festive month of January. That whole time, Cleo was trying to figure out how to deal with her feelings for Rio. She was fairly certain that what she felt was love at least, but that did not make matters at all easier. The biggest question that Cleo faced was whether or not to tell Rio how she felt about her. She wanted to tell her, but at the same time she was certain that if she did, Rio would want nothing more to do with her._

_It was fairly early in the morning as Cleo headed for the kitchen of her family's apartment. She had been unable to sleep much the night before due to thoughts of Rio. As she walked into the kitchen she saw her mother, Carly on the phone. The shorter woman seemed to be very pleased about something._

_"…Okay. I'll talk to later then." Carly spoke into the phone before hanging up. She then noticed Cleo standing before her. "Oh! Cleo. I didn't think you'd be up this early."_

_"Neither did I." Cleo replied. "Where's dad?"_

_"He's out running a little errand." Carly answered. "Actually sweetie, there's something I think I should go ahead and tell you. We're going to be moving back to Neo Domino."_

_Cleo felt like she had just been kicked in the stomach. "We… we are?"_

_"Uh-huh." Carly cheerfully confirmed. "I finally got a permanent job as a news anchor for the news station. And your father's decided to settle down for a bit and take a break from the pro circuit."_

_"That's… that's great." Cleo replied with a fake smile._

_"Okay, what's wrong?" Carly asked with a bit of a sigh._

_"Nothing." Cleo lied._

_"You can't fool me, Cleo. I know when something's bothering you." Carly told her. "You're not happy about leaving, are you?"_

_"Why would I be unhappy? This isn't the first time we've had to move." Cleo pointed out._

_"No, no. This is definitely different." Carly observed. "Is this because of that friend of yours, Rio?"_

_Cleo's mother had hit the nail on the head, but she said nothing to confirm it. She realized that she did need advice though, and her mother was the only one to ask._

_"Mom… I think I'm in love with someone." Cleo hesitantly admitted._

_"Really…" Carly replied as a devilish grin came to her face. "So who is this person?"_

_"I'd prefer not to say." Cleo told her._

_"Oh c'mon, Cleo. You can tell me." Carly responded. "I am your mother after all."_

_"I… I just can't tell you, okay?" Cleo insisted._

_"Okay, okay. You don't have to name names if you don't want to." Carly assured her. "But I think I'm starting to see why you're not happy about this move. So you're afraid that if you move your relationship will be ruined, right? Because I can tell you that long-distance relationships can work."_

_"It's not that, mother." Cleo told her. "This person doesn't even know how I feel. And I'm afraid if I made my feelings known, this person wouldn't want anything more to do with me. And I don't want to risk losing our friendship."_

_"I see…" Carly thoughtfully replied. "Well, it's totally up to you whether or not to tell this special someone of yours how you feel, but I think you should make your feelings known. If you don't, it'll just keep eating at you."_

_"Maybe you're right." Cleo admitted. "Either way, it doesn't seem like I have much time to decide, do I?"_

_"We're not moving for a couple of weeks, so you do have a little bit of time." Carly told her. "Just think about what I said, okay?"_

_"Okay mother." Cleo replied._

_The first week before the big move went by far faster than Cleo had wanted, and in that whole time she hadn't been able to work up the nerve to tell Rio how she felt about her. She hadn't even told her that she was moving. In fact, for that week Cleo had been avoiding the blunette almost entirely. Every time Rio had called, Cleo had made up some excuse for not being able to meet up with her. That Saturday morning though, Rio had called Cleo about some big news that she wanted to share. Realizing that she couldn't avoid Rio for very much longer, Cleo went to go meet with her._

_That January morning was unseasonably warm, so much so that Cleo didn't even need her winter ware. She found Rio waiting for her at one of their usual meeting spots at the town square. As soon as Cleo arrived, Rio spotted her and ran up to her excitedly._

_"There you are!" Rio spoke as she approached. "It feels like it's been ages since I last saw you."_

_"Sorry, I've been busy." Cleo replied as she rubbed the back of her head. "I have been wanting to talk to you about something though. Something important."_

_"Let me share my news first." Rio told her. "You'll never guess who asked me to have a special duel with him."_

_"Okay, who?" Cleo asked._

_"IV!" Rio answered._

_"IV? You're dueling a number?" Cleo asked with a quirked brow._

_"No, IV is a talented duelist that's been on the rise lately." Rio explained. "A lot of the girls at my school are crazy about him. I guess I've become a pretty big fan of him myself."_

_"…I see." Cleo responded. "So most of the girls at your school are fans of his, huh? I guess that means he's pretty good-looking."_

_"Well, he is pretty handsome." Rio admitted. "But I'm actually pretty excited to be able to duel him. I'm supposed to meet with him tonight. I'd ask you to come with, but he asked me to come alone."_

_"Well then… I guess I wouldn't want to be a third wheel." Cleo responded as she turned to leave._

_"Wait, Cleo. Wasn't there something you wanted to tell me?" Rio recalled._

_"…Another time. Later." Cleo told her, and with that she walked off._

_The evening came, and Cleo couldn't get Rio's upcoming duel with the mysterious IV out of her head. She couldn't help but think about how excited Rio seemed to be about the whole thing, wondering just how handsome this mystery duelist was. Dinnertime came, and the whole Atlas family was present. Jack was reading the evening paper while Carly was putting things out on the table._

_As Cleo sat down, Jack glanced up from his paper and noticed the scowl on his daughter's face. "Something wrong, Cleo?"_

_"It's nothing." Cleo told him. "I was just thinking about something that's going on tonight. My friend, Rio is going to be dueling someone calling himself IV."_

_"Did you say IV? I've heard about him." Carly interjected. "Well read about him, anyway. He's this talented new duelist that's become quite popular."_

_"I've heard about this duelist too." Jack revealed. "But nothing I've heard about him is good. In fact, he could be dangerous."_

_An alarm went off in Cleo's head. "What do you mean?"_

_"I've heard only rumors, but this IV is said to have a very different face from the one the public sees." Jack explained. "In reality he's actually a very aggressive duelist. One of his opponents ended up in the hospital because of his tactics."_

_At this, Cleo quickly rose from her seat. "I have to go!"_

_"What? But Cleo!" Carly spoke, but her words met deaf ears as her daughter rushed to the door._

_Cleo got out of the apartment building as fast as she could and headed straight for Rio's place. The jealousy she had been feeling before had been overshadowed by worry. If IV was as dangerous as her father had said, she was afraid that Rio might be seriously hurt. Cleo just prayed that she could get to Rio before it was too late. After rushing through the city, Cleo made it to the Kamishiro residence just in time to see Rio heading off to her duel._

_"Rio!" Cleo desperately called as she ran towards her, causing Rio to stop and turn._

_"Cleo, what…?" Rio began to ask._

_"You can't duel IV." Cleo told her before she could finish. "It's too dangerous."_

_"What're you talking about?" a confused Rio asked._

_"My father heard some things about IV that you should know." Cleo explained. "He's dangerous, Rio. There's a rumor that one of his opponents ended up in the hospital."_

_"I don't know where your dad heard this rumor, but it can't be true." Rio told her. "I met IV, and he's nothing like what you say. Now if you'll excuse me…"_

_"Dammit, Rio! He's dangerous!" Cleo insisted._

_"I don't believe that!" Rio responded. "Now I'm going to be late."_

_"You're not dueling him!" Cleo ordered as she grabbed her by the shoulder._

_"Let go of me!" Rio shot back as she escaped Rio's grasp. "You have no right to tell me what I can and can't do!"_

_"If you weren't being so colossally stupid, you'd see that I'm only trying to protect you!" Cleo responded._

_"I don't need your protection, and I can think for myself!" Rio told her._

_"Fine then! Do whatever the hell you want!" Cleo shot back. "Just don't come crying to me later when you find out I'm right!"_

_With that, Cleo stormed off. Rio stormed off in the opposite direction a moment later. As Cleo made her way back to the apartment building she realized far too late that she had lost her temper. She cursed herself for speaking to Rio the way she did. This girl was the person she was in love with, and she had treated her like trash. Rio ended up spending several minutes walking around the city. By the time she finally got back to the apartment she saw Carly on the phone. A worried expression was on the dark-haired woman's face._

_"…I see. Thanks for giving me the heads-up. Talk to you later." Carly spoke into the phone before hanging up. She turned and saw Cleo walking by. "Cleo, sweetie? Come here for a second."_

_"What is it?" Cleo asked as she approached._

_"I… I have some bad news." Carly began. "That was a reporter friend of mine I was just talking to. A warehouse just caught on fire pretty bad. Your friend, Rio's been hurt."_

_Cleo felt like she had just been stabbed in the heart. She nearly collapsed upon hearing that Rio had been injured, and it was all her fault._

_"How… how bad is…?" Cleo attempted to ask._

_"I don't know, sweetie." Carly told her. "But I do know what hospital she's being taken to. I can drive you there."_

_Cleo and Carly then left for the hospital as quickly as they could. By the time Cleo found out where Rio was she rushed to her. In the hallway outside Rio room she saw Ryoga sitting in one of the chairs. The water duelist quickly noticed her arrival._

_"How is she?" Cleo asked as she quickly went up. "How's Rio?"_

_"Not good. She was hurt pretty badly." Ryoga answered. "The doctors think she's gonna be in the hospital for a long time."_

_"I'm going to see her." Cleo decided._

_"Like hell you are!" Ryoga told her as he quickly got up and blocked her path. "I'm not letting you anywhere near my sister!"_

_"You have no right to keep me from her!" Cleo told her._

_"I heard you and Rio arguing before she left to go duel that psycho!" Ryoga revealed. "If you hadn't been such a hothead, Rio probably wouldn't have gotten hurt at all! You're the worst thing that's ever happened to my sister!"_

_It seemed to Cleo that Ryoga was completely right. It was her fault that Rio was hurt. Rather than argue, Cleo ran away as fast as she could. She didn't want to give Ryoga the satisfaction of seeing her cry._

* * *

><p>"…I never saw Rio again until now." Cleo told Iris as she finished her tale. "That argument I had with her was the worst mistake of my life. If I had done things differently… maybe if I had even told Rio how I felt about her… she wouldn't have gotten hurt."<p>

"You can't keep blaming yourself for that." Iris told her. "That's all ancient history now."

"You know… I thought that maybe this trip might be a second chance for me and her." Cleo continued. "And I end up ruining things all over again. I'm sure that Rio doesn't want anything to do with me now."

"First of all, you're being way too hard on yourself." Iris told her. "Second, you should know that Rio isn't interested in Thomas as a boyfriend. Actually… there's a chance that she might really be interested in you."

"What makes you say that?" a surprised Cleo asked.

"Just a feeling I got from something we talked about earlier." Iris answered. "Nothing I'm totally sure about though."

"…Well, even you're right about this feeling of yours, Rio still deserves someone much better than me." Cleo assumed. "Now if you'll excuse me." With that, Cleo walked off.

Iris sighed and shook her head. "This is turning into one big mess."

* * *

><p>Dante waited on the beach with Splicer and Brimstone looking out over the waves. Brimstone checked his watch for what was probably the seventh time while his pale partner yawned.<p>

"How much longer are we going to be waiting for this extra hand of yours, Fairbanks?" Splicer asked.

"Patience, Mr. Splicer. She will come." Dante assured him.

Almost as if on cue, the three of them saw a black object approaching from the distance. In seconds they could make the object out to be a sleek black speedboat. The boat pulled up onto the shore and the driver got out. It was a young woman clad in almost skintight black and silver body armor. Her right arm looked as though it was completely mechanical. She had long straight light-green hair tied in a ponytail. Covering the top half of her face was a dark-silver mask like the face of a dragon with red lenses over the eyes.

"Good of you to come, Mithril." Dante told the masked woman.

Mithril stopped before Dante and kneeled. "I came as soon as you ordered me to, Prince Zhan. How may I serve you?"

"Hey Fairbanks, what's with this chick?" Brimstone asked. "Why's she calling you a prince?"

"Later, Mr. Brimstone." Dante told her. He turned his attention back to Mithril. "I called you here because I need you to capture Princess Merag for me. I don't think I need to say that I need her alive."

"I shall do my best, my prince." Mithril assured him.

"Hey Fairbanks, you sure this girl's as good as you say?" Splicer asked.

"I only hesitated to call upon Mithril until now because I was afraid it would be overkill." Dante explained. "She is the deadliest assassin I have, armed with cards that I designed exclusively for her use."

"Well okay then. So what's the game plan this time?" Brimstone asked.

"Mithril will go after Rio while one or both of you act as a distraction and attack the others." Dante answered.

"If it's all the same to you Fairbanks, I'll go with your golden girl there to make sure she doesn't screw things up." Brimstone decided. "There's no way I'm dueling doll boy again."

"Then I guess I got distraction detail." Splicer observed. "This should be a piece of cake."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> I've noticed that whenever I do a chapter of a story that has a lot of flashback and backstory in it, it ends up being super long. I guess that's because I'm essentially telling what is entirely a story of its own in a single setting. I hope that the flashback in this chapter doesn't seem rushed to anyone reading. I also apologize for skipping over the duel(s) between Cleo and Shark. I had thought about showing at least one of them, but I felt like it wasn't necessary.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	7. Dinosaurs and Dragons

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

><p>Chapter 7: Dinosaurs and Dragons<p>

After walking for several minutes, Cleo finally ended up back at the campsite. It looked as though everyone was there except for Kazuma, Dante, Thomas and Rio. Cleo assumed that Kazuma and Dante were off exploring the ruins trying to find whatever it was that Dante was after, which she was just fine with. Dante was one of the last people she wanted to deal with at the moment. It was the same case with Thomas. As for Rio, Cleo was somewhat glad she wasn't there either. At the moment, there was still no way she could face her.

As soon as Cleo arrived at the site, Michael noticed her and walked up. "Hello, Ms. Atlas. How are you doing?"

"What do you care?" Cleo coldly responded.

"Look, I'm sorry about my brother." Michael told her. "And for what happened to Rio back then. I hope we can all move past this and become friends."

"You I have no problem with. But that brother of yours is another story." Cleo told him.

Michael, could you give me and Cleo a moment please?" a voice interrupted. The two looked and saw Byron standing near them.

"Sure dad." Michael replied before walking off.

"What do you want, little man?" Cleo asked.

"I wanted to have a quick word with you." Byron explained. "I'm sorry for what my son did to Rio, but you should know that he did it because I had ordered him to."

"You?" a surprised Cleo asked.

"It was all part of an elaborate scheme to use Rio's brother as an instrument of revenge against Faker." Byron explained. "I was because of him that I now have this body. I realized thought that what I did was very wrong. So if you want to hate somebody, hate me. I deserve it."

Cleo wasn't sure how to respond. She had never even suspected that Thomas might have been told by someone to go after Rio, and the one responsible was standing right before her. Before she could fully process this revelation, the sound of an engine broke the calm silence of the campsite. Driving towards them was Splicer on the back of a black and white D-Wheel. The front end of the vehicle was shaped to look like the white head of a dragon.

Splicer pulled the motorcycle up a few feet from the campfire and dismounted. "Yo!"

"Who are you?" Faker demanded to know.

"Call me Splicer." The visor-wearing duelist answered. "I'm Brimstone's partner, so I think you can all guess why I'm here."

"If you're after Rio, she's not here!" Iris told him.

"Huh. So she isn't." Splicer observed as he rubbed the back of his head. "Looks like I drove all the way for nothing. Oh well. As long as I'm here, I may as well thin out this heard of losers."

"Are you looking for a fight?" Michael asked.

"What's it sound like?" Splicer answered. "Now we can do this a couple of ways. Either I can duel one of you guys one-on-one, or I can take you guys all out at once. I should tell you all that I have the same powers as my partner, which means I can summon all the monsters I want to tear you all to shreds. So which was is it gonna be?"

"Fine! I'll…" Cleo began to say, but Michael head up his hand to stop her.

"Let me handle this guy, Ms. Atlas." Michael told her. "It's the least I can do to make up for what my family's done."

"Okay kid. Let's see what you got." Splicer agreed.

With that, Michael stepped forward and both he and Splicer activated their duel disks. The others quickly activated their D-Gazers to watch the duel that was about to unfold. In seconds the color of the surrounding area changed slightly.

"I'll start this party off." Splicer declared as he drew his first card. "I'll summon Evoltile Pleuro in Defense Mode and end my turn."

Appearing on Splicer's side of the battlefield was a fairly small blue and orange reptile with a snake-like body. It had very small underdeveloped arms and legs, and its transparent tail showed what looked to be some kind of green and red DNA strand.

Michael drew his first card. "Since you control a monster, I special summon Chronomaly Crystal Bones from my hand!"

Materializing on Michael's side of the battlefield was what looked like a humanoid skeleton with bones made out of blue crystal. The oddest thing about the skeleton was that it completely lacked a skull.

"Because I summoned Crystal Bones, I can also summon Chronomaly Crystal Skull from my hand!" Michael continued.

Appearing next to the crystal skeleton was a small blue crystal skull that looked like it went with the other bones. The skull had a decidedly alien look to it.

"I now overlay my level three Crystal Bones and level three Crystal Skull to Xyz Summon Chronomaly Crystal Chrononaught!" Michael announced.

The skull attached itself to the rest of the skeleton and a large vortex appeared beneath it. The completed skeleton sank into the vortex, rising out of it again seconds later covered in new flesh. It was an alien-looking creature with light-purple reptilian skin and round light-blue eyes. A crystal sphere was embedded in the creature's chest, and on its back was a pair of wings. Orbiting around the creature were two balls made of blue light.

"Huh… reminds me of a movie I saw once." Splicer remarked. "Not bad, kid."

"I activate a Continuous Spell, Chonomaly Pyramid Eye Tablet!" Michael announced. A large golden tablet engraved with hieroglyphics and the symbol of a large eye at the top appeared behind him. "As long as this card is on the field, all of my Chronomaly monsters gain 800 ATK points! Which means my Chrononaught's ATK rises to 2900!"

A golden light began to shine from the eye carved into the tablet. Michael's alien life form then began to glow with a brilliant golden aura.

"Crystal Chrononaught, attack Pleuro!" Michael commanded. "Crystal Flare!"

Chrononaught fired a beam of golden light from the crystal sphere on its chest at Pleuro. The serpent reptile was struck by the blast, causing an explosion of fire and smoke. When the smoke cleared however, a new creature had appeared in Pleuro's place. This monster was a fairly large dinosaur-like creature with green scales. A set of red spikes covered its back, with the two largest spikes over the shoulders of its front legs. It had a long red transparent tail showing a green and red DNA strand.

"What just happened?" a somewhat surprised Michael asked.

"What happened was that when you destroyed Pleuro, I was able to summon an Evolsaur monster from my deck to take his place." Splicer explained. "So I summoned Evolsaur Pelta in Defense Mode. And since he was summoned by the effect of an Evoltile monster, Pelta's DEF goes up to 2500."

"I guess I'll end my turn then." Michael decided.

Splicer drew his next card. "I gotta admit kid, you've got a pretty interesting deck. My deck's pretty interesting too. In case you haven't figured it out yet, the theme of my deck is evolution."

"Evolution?" a somewhat confused Michael repeated.

"Let me show you what I mean." Splicer told him. "I'll start by summoning Evoltile Gephyro in Defense Mode."

Appearing on Splicer's side of the battlefield was a small purple lizard with two horns and a row of spikes on its back. It had a transparent tail showing a green and red DNA strand.

"Now I activate the Spell, Evo-Force." Splicer announced. "This card lets me sacrifice an Evotile to summon an Evolsaur from my deck. So I sacrifice Gephyro and evolve it to summon Evolsaur Pleuro in Defense Mode."

The DNA strand in Gephyro's tail began to glow with a purple light, and soon the lizard's entire body began to glow and change in shape and size. After a moment the light faded to reveal that the lizard had become a large purple dinosaur with a long neck and a long transparent tail showing a DNA strand.

"I get it. So your deck revolves around summoning reptiles and evolving them into stronger dinosaurs." Michael realized.

"Now you're catching on." Splicer confirmed. "By the way, since Pleuro was summoned using Evo-Force, it has the effect it would've gained if it was summoned by an Evoltile's effect. And Pleuro's effect when summoned that way is it can destroy one of my opponent's Spell or Trap cards, which means you can say goodbye to that stone tablet of yours."

The purple dinosaur roared and stamped its foot on the ground. A tremor ran through the earth and caused the large stone tablet behind Michael to crumble to bits. The golden aura from Chrononaught instantly faded when the tablet broke.

"Those Evolsaur monsters of yours are impressive," Michael admitted, "but even without Pyramid Eye Tablet they're no match for Chrononaught."

"True. But I can take the evolutionary process a step further." Splicer revealed. "You know how most scientists think that dinosaurs ended up evolving back into lizards or became birds? Well there's another step they could've taken too. I overlay my level four Pelta and Pleuro to Xyz Summon Evolzar Dolkka!"

A swirling vortex appeared in the middle of the battlefield and pulled in the two dinosaurs as balls of red energy. A pillar of red flames shot out of the center of the vortex, dying down after a moment to reveal a slender bipedal dragon with blue eyes and a glowing white body. It had two pairs of wings and a transparent green tail showing a DNA strand. Orbiting around the dragon with two orange balls of light that burned like flames.

"A dragon?" Michael observed.

"Bingo." Splicer confirmed. "Instead of regressing into smaller creatures like birds and lizards, dinosaurs could've also ascended to an even higher level by becoming the strongest creatures in myth and legend, dragons. I learned about this theory in this one cheesy movie I saw on TV once. Some scientist cloned a dragon to prove the theory that they were once dinosaurs. Anyway, when I found out about the Evol series of cards in Duel Monsters, they seemed like a good fit for me."

"That is a pretty interesting theory." Michael admitted. "But you still won't win!"

"We'll see about that." Splicer told him. "Dolkka, attack Crystal Chrononaught!"

"I activate Crystal Chrononaught's effect!" Michael quickly announced. "By detaching one overlay unit, Chrononaught can't be destroyed in this battle and you take any damage I would normally take!" One of the balls of light orbiting the alien went into the sphere in its chest.

"Yeah? Well I activate Dolkka's effect." Splicer announced. "Since you activated a monster's effect, I can detach an overlay unit from Dolkka to negate that effect and destroy that monster."

One of the burning balls of light orbiting Dolkka went into the dragon's mouth. Dolkka then breathed out a stream of orange flames that burned Chrononaught to ash.

"Looks like your move just backfired in the worst way." Splicer observed. "Dolkka, attack the kid directly! Ascension Flare!"

Dolkka reared back its head and fired another stream of flames at Michael. The attack knocked Michael onto his back and his life points dropped to 1700.

"Michael!" a concerned Byron called.

"That attack looked like it really hurt him." An almost equally concerned Faker noticed.

"It did." Cleo confirmed. "Splicer is a psychic duelist, which means the attacks of his monsters can cause real damage. They can even kill. This duel may cost Michael his life."

"Get up, kid. I'm not done with you yet." Splicer told him.

"Dang it!" Michael spoke as he finally got back to his feet. "Looks like you're not playing around."

"I never do, kid." Splicer replied. "By the time I'm through with you, you'll be lucky if there's even enough left of you to take home in a bodybag."

* * *

><p>Rio stood at the end of a cliff she had managed to find on the island that overlooked the ocean. The spot was far away from the camp, which was good, as Rio needed to be alone. Her mind was still on the little conversation she had with Iris earlier. There was something about the possibility with Cleo being in love with her that really seemed to affect her. What had really struck her was that she couldn't say to Iris that she wasn't in love with Cleo, and she couldn't help but wonder why.<p>

There had always something about Cleo that Rio had been really drawn to. That winter Cleo was in Heartland was probably one of the best times in her life up until the argument they had about Thomas. And one thing Rio had to admit that her feelings towards Cleo were unlike the feelings she had for any of her other friends. But was what she felt for Cleo love? Was she really attracted to Cleo in that way?

"Hey princess! I've been looking for ya!" a familiar voice called. Rio turned and saw Brimstone standing a few feet away.

"It's you again!" Rio responded as she tensed up. "I guess you've come to kidnap me? Because if you are, I'm not going without a fight!"

"Feisty. I like that." Brimstone replied with a cocky grin. "You're right, I have come to grab you. But I won't be the one fighting you."

Before Rio could ask what Brimstone meant, Mithril suddenly emerged from the trees nearby. The masked woman flipped through the air and landed right in front of Rio.

"Princess Merag, by order of Prince Zahn I have come to capture you." Mithril told her.

Rio was somewhat alarmed by the way Mithril addressed her. It meant that she and whoever she worked for knew about Rio's past life as princess of the United Lands of the Poseidon Ocean, and quite possibly that she was once one of the Seven Barian Emperors. If that was the case, it meant that whoever was after her was very dangerous.

"Yeah, I don't really get this prince and princess stuff that my new coworker is talking about." Brimstone remarked. "If you ask me, she's not quite right in the head. But I'm pretty interested to see what she can do. So I'll just let you two ladies work this out on your own."

"There is no escape from this battle, Princess." Mithril told Rio. "The only way for you to escape is to defeat me."

"Fine then! Let's do this!" Rio agreed.

With that, Rio activated her D-Gazer and duel disk. Mithril activated her own duel disk in response and both she and Brimstone activated the D-Gazers built into their masks. In moments, the color of the surrounding area changed.

"The first move shall be mine." Mithril spoke as she drew her first card. "I set one monster on the field and end my turn."

Rio drew her first card. "I summon Blizzard Thunderbird in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on Rio's side of the battlefield was a slightly humanoid bird-like creature with a body covered completely in blue ice-like armor. On its back was a large pair of wings made of golden blades.

"Blizzard Thunderbird, attack that set monster!" Rio commanded. "Ice Lightning Strike!"

An ice-cold wind blew through the field and a bolt of blue lightning came down from the sky. Before the bolt could hit, Mithril's large set card flipped and changed into a red metal sphere with five grey metal prongs projecting outward around its midsection. The sphere flew towards Rio's monster, causing the lighting strike to miss. The device then clamped tightly onto the front of Blizzard Thunderbird's torso.

"When Blast Sphere is attacked, it equips itself to the enemy that attacked it and becomes a time bomb." Mithril explained. "At the start of your next turn, Blast Sphere will detonate and you will take damage equal to your Thunderbird's ATK points."

"Then I end my turn, I guess." Rio announced.

Mithril drew her next card. "I activate the Spell, Polymerization and combine Luster Dragon and Cannon Soldier in my hand to summon Yellow Alloy Dragon."

A small vortex appeared in the air above the battlefield. Two monsters then appeared on Mithril's side of the field. One was a dragon with a body covered in shining purple scales, and the other was a purple robot with a box-like torso and a long black cannon in place of a head. The two monsters jumped up into the vortex. Dropping out of it a moment later was a slender bipedal dragon with a body covered in shining yellow and white metal. It had a pair of blade-like wings on its back and two short white spike-like horns on its head. Embedded in the center of its chest was a red orb.

"What kind of card is that?" a surprised Rio asked.

"None that you have ever laid eyes upon before." Mithril answered. "Prince Zahn created Yellow Alloy Dragon and other cards like it exclusively for my use."

"Well that dragon of yours may be strong, but you can't attack me without destroying the bomb you put on my monster." Rio pointed out.

"That's where you're wrong, Princess." Mithril told her. "Yellow Alloy Dragon has the power to attack my opponents directly."

"What?" Rio exclaimed.

"Yellow Alloy Dragon, strike down the Princess with Swift Blade Wind!" Mithril commanded.

The metal dragon flew high into the air and came down towards Rio at top speed. It flew right past her and struck her in the side with one of its bladed wings, nearly knocking her back. The attack had dropped her life points down to 1900. With its work done, Yellow Alloy Dragon returned to its side of the battlefield.

"Oh man! Guess this girl really is some hot stuff." Brimstone remarked.

"It is futile for you to resist, Princess." Mithril told Rio. "In the end, you will have no choice but to submit to me and Prince Zahn."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Unlike Brimstone, who was one of my older character ideas, Splicer was a totally new character that I ended up creating just because I felt that Dante should have two henchmen instead of one. I also thought that Splicer should use some kind of dinosaur deck like Brimstone, and that's when I remembered the Evol monsters. Of course I wasn't all too familiar with that archetype beyond its theme of the evolution of lizards into dinosaurs into dragons, so that made writing the first duel in this chapter kind of hard.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	8. Full Metal Dragon

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

><p>Chapter 8: Full Metal Dragon<p>

"It's your move, kid." Splicer told Michael. "I ain't got all day, you know."

Michal drew his next card. "Since you have a monster on the field, I summon Chronomaly Moai Carrier!"

Materializing on the battlefield was a floating stone head that glowed with a strange white light. Latched onto its sides were two grey mechanical devices that seemed to be what allowed the head to float.

"Something's not right." Cleo spoke on the sidelines.

"No kidding." Iris replied. "If Michael can't turn this duel around now, he's done for."

"That's not what I mean." Cleo told her. "Splicer and that other piece of scum, Brimstone came here to capture Rio. But only one of them is here. That means… Damn!" With that, Cleo suddenly ran off.

"Hey! Cleo!" Iris called as she ran after her.

"Because I have a level five Chronomaly monster on the field, I can also summon Chronomaly Winged Sphinx!" Michael continued back in the duel

Appearing next to Michael's floating stone head was a floating sphinx made out of what looked to be an odd golden stone. The sphinx had red eyes and gave off a strange golden aura.

"I overlay my level five Moai Carrier and Winged Sphinx to Xyz Summon Chronomaly Celestial Dogu!" Michael announced.

A large vortex appeared in the center of the battlefield and caused Michael's two statue monsters to become two balls of white energy and get pulled in. A massive pillar of white light shot out of the vortex, fading after a moment to reveal a large floating almost robot-like object made of a strange white metal or stone. It had a large head with eyes that looked like a pair of goggles with a slit through the center of each lens and a small circular mouth. On the back of its almost spherical torso what a pair of wings sculpted to look like they head feathers, and on the front of the torso on the chest was a blue diamond-shaped gem. At the end of both its arms were two very small hands, each with a set of three prong-like projections for fingers. The machine gave off a strange white aura, and orbiting around it were two balls of white light.

As soon as the creature appeared, its goggle-like eyes opened up like a set of eyelids revealing a brilliant white light shining from inside the creature's body. Suddenly the remaining ball of light orbiting Dolkka was pulled into one of the eyes. The eyes of the mechanical being shut and its aura began to shine brighter.

"Hey! What happened to Dolkka's last overlay unit?" Splicer demanded to know.

"When Celestial Dogu is summoned, it instantly detaches the overlay units from all other Xyz Monsters on the field." Michael explained. "For each overlay unit detached, Celestial Dogu's ATK points go up by 400, which means its ATK is now 2800."

"Pretty good move, kid." Splicer admitted.

"I'm not done yet though." Michael continued. "I activate another of Celestial Dogu's effects! By detaching one of its overlay units, Celestial Dogu banishes all other special summoned monsters on the field!"

One of the balls of white light orbiting the dogu entered the blue gem on its chest. Celestial Dogu began to glow brighter and gave off a blinding shockwave of light that spread out across the entire battlefield. The wave struck Splicer's dragon and caused it to vanish without a trace.

"Celestial Dogu, attack Splicer directly!" Michael commanded. "Divine Light Cannon!"

A panel in the front of the skirt-like armor surrounding the Dogu's waist opened up and a large cannon barrel projected outward. The end of the cannon fired an intense blast of white light that struck Splicer and knocked him back about seven feet. Splicer's life points dropped to 1200.

"I end my turn." Michael announced. "Your move."

* * *

><p>Cleo ran through the forest with Iris following close behind. As they ran, Cleo had explained to the younger girl that Splicer was probably acting as a distraction while Brimstone went after Rio. Cleo cursed herself for not realizing what was going on sooner, but she focused her energy on finding Rio before Brimstone got to her. As the two girls ran through the forest they ran across Thomas, who just seemed to be out for a walk.<p>

"Hey! What's going on?" Thomas asked as the two quickly approached.

"None of your concern!" Cleo responded as she ran past.

Iris on the other hand came to a stop. "Some guy who works from Brimstone showed up at the camp and is dueling Michael right now! But Cleo thinks he's a distraction and that Brimstone is after Rio right now!"

"What?" Thomas exclaimed. "Damn!"

With that, Thomas began to run after Cleo as quickly as he could. Iris continued on after them.

* * *

><p>Splicer drew his next card. "First I set one card on the field. Then I summon Evoltile Casinerio in Defense Mode."<p>

Appearing on Splicer's side of the battlefield was a small light-blue and purple lizard-like creature with a long body and underdeveloped legs. It had a red transparent tail showing a green and red strand of DNA.

"That ends my turn." Splicer announced.

Michael drew his next card. "Celestial Dogu, attack Casinerio! Divine Light Cannon!"

"I activate a Trap, Ring of Destruction!" Splicer quickly announced just as the dogu extended its cannon. "This card destroys your monster and deals its ATK as damage to both of us!"

A steel ring with green hand grenades attached along its side appeared around Celestial Dogu's neck. The grenades all exploded at once, destroying the large dogu in a flash of fire and smoke. The shockwave from the explosion struck Michael and Splicer, bringing their life points to zero. With the duel at an end, Splicer's remaining reptile vanished and the color of the surrounding area returned to normal.

"Well, that duel went a bit sideways." Splicer remarked as he got back to his feet. "But then my job's probably done anyway. Later."

Before Michael could ask Splicer what he meant by his last remark, the evolution duelist threw a smoke bomb from his pocket to the ground, washing out the campsite in a thick grey smoke. Before the smoke could fully dissipate, Michael and the others could hear the sound of Splicer riding off on his D-Wheel.

"Well, I guess I'm still alive, at least." Michael observed.

"You did well, son." Byron told him.

"Yeah, but something's bugging me." Michael told him. "Splicer said that his job was probably done. What do you think that means?"

"Oh damn!" Faker cursed. "I think I know. That other duelist, Brimstone has probably gone after Rio while the rest of us were occupied here. That's why Cleo and Iris ran off. They realized that Splicer was just a distraction."

"And why didn't you think of this sooner, Faker?" a somewhat irritated Byron asked. "After all, you're supposed to be a genius!"

"I didn't see you figuring this out sooner either!" Faker pointed out.

"Dad! Dr. Faker! We don't have time for this!" Michael pointed out. "If you're right, then Rio's probably in danger! We have to go help her!"

* * *

><p>"I end my turn here." Mithril announced. "It is your move, Princess."<p>

Rio drew her next card. As soon as she did, the red sphere attached to Blizzard Thunderbird detonated and blew the creature up in a flash of fire and smoke. Rio's life points plummeted to a paltry 300.

"First I activate Monster Reborn and summon Blizzard Falcon back from the Graveyard!" Rio announced. The humanoid ice bird reappeared on the field. "Next I summon Blizzard Falcon in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on the field with an ice-cold wind was a large blue falcon with a yellow beak. It seemed to have armor instead of feathers, with its wings being light-blue metal wings shaped almost like the wings of a butterfly.

"I overlay my level four Blizzard Falcon and level four Blizzard Thunderbird to Xyz Summon Ice Beast Zerofyne!" Rio announced.

A large vortex appeared in the center of the battlefield and pulled in Rio's two ice birds as balls of blue light. Rising out of the center a moment later was a woman with ice-blue skin and a dress made out of what looked to be ice crystals. The skirt of this dress seemed to be made of blue armored plates. On her back were two large blue jagged blades shaped like an inverted pair of wings. Her head and face was covered almost completely by a blue helmet, and on each of her forearms were two almost claw-shaped pieces of armor.

"Now I activate the Spell, Rank-Up-Magic Barian's Force!" Rio announced. "With this card I use Zerofyne to rebuild the overlay network and summon CXyz Ice Demon Sub Zerofyne!"

A strange black vortex surrounded by a green mist appeared in the air behind Rio. Zerofyne changed into a ball of blue light and was pulled in. A beam of blue light shot out of the phenomenon a moment later, and Zerofyne appeared in a new form. Her blue armor had turned black and her eyes were glowing blood red. On the forehead of her helmet was a golden version of the Barian Emblem. The wing-like blades on her back had become shaped like part of the Barian Emblem as well, and each one had a line of crimson light along the center. Glowing on the front of her waist as a sort of belt buckle was a red diamond-shaped gem. Appearing on the ground around Sub Zerofyne in a circle with three red diamond-shaped crystals with gold plates on them.

"What the hell kind of move was that?" Brimstone exclaimed.

"You both made the mistake of thinking that I'm weak." Rio told him and Mithril. "Now I'm going to show you what I'm really capable of."

Suddenly Sub Zerofyne cried out in the sound of a bird of prey and let loose a cold wind filled with snow and ice. Yellow Alloy Dragon was struck by the wind and covered in a layer of frost.

"Explain this." Mithril spoke.

"When Sub Zerofyne is summoned to the field, all my opponents monsters lose 300 ATK for every card on the field." Rio explained. "Right now the only cards out are Sub Zerofyne and Yellow Alloy Dragon, which means your metal dragon's ATK is now 1500."

"Damn!" Brimstone cursed. "And that weird Xyz Monster of hers had 2400 ATK to begin with."

"Sub Zerofyne, attack Yellow Alloy Dragon!" Rio commanded. "Absolute Zero Crush!"

The ice maiden bright her arms forward and suddenly a vortex of snow and ice appeared around Yellow Alloy Dragon. The mechanical dragon suddenly began to implode and was destroyed in a flash of fire and smoke. Mithril's life points dropped to 3100.

"I now activate Sub Zerofyne's effect!" Rio announced. "By detaching an overlay unit when she destroys a monster in battle, Sub Zerofyne deals 300 points of damage times that monster's level or rank. And since Yellow Alloy Dragon was a level six monster, you take 1800 points of damage!"

One of the red crystals on the ground around Sub Zerofyne shattered and particles of red light went into the emblem on her helmet. A bolt of red electricity then shot from the red gem on her waist and hit Mithril in the chest. The masked woman's life points dropped to 1300.

"I set one card on the field and end my turn!" Rio announced.

Mithril drew her next card. "Your skill is quite impressive, Princess Merag. But I'm afraid you are still no match for the power that Prince Zahn has given me. I summon Red-Eyes Black Chick in Attack Mode!"

A large red egg appeared on Mithril's side of the battlefield. The egg hatched and from it emerged a small black dragon with red eyes.

"I now sacrifice Red-Eyes Black Chick to summon the Red-Eyes Black Dragon!" Mithril announced.

The young dragon suddenly began to glow with a red light and change in shape in size. After a moment the light faded and the young dragon had changed to a slender adult form. As soon as it finished transforming, it reared back its head and roared at Rio.

"That's… the legendary black dragon!" a stunned Rio spoke.

"Indeed. This is the dragon used by the legendary duelist, Joey Wheeler." Mithril confirmed. "Though somewhat weak in its current state, this dragon can evolve into many different forms. And my Prince Zahn has created such a form for my use. I activate the Spell, Alloy Fusion! By sending Red-Eyes and Blast Sphere back to the deck, I can fuse them together to summon my ultimate monster, Red-Eyes Black Alloy Dragon!"

Red-Eyes roared as his body began to give off massive bolts of crackling red energy. Suddenly his body started to become covered in pieces of shimmering black armor, causing his arms and legs to become thicker and its jaw a little larger and more imposing. Embedded in the center of its chest was a red orb like the one that was in Yellow Alloy Dragon's chest. When his transformation finished, the mechanical Red-Eyes opened its mouth and roared in a sound like that of an electric saw blade going through a nail.

"In his current state, Red-Eyes now has 2800 ATK points." Mithril continued. "But when he attacks an enemy monster, he gains half that monster's ATK during the battle. Now my Red-Eyes attack Princess Merag's monster! Dark Gigaflare!"

"I activate a Trap!" Rio quickly announced, but when she pressed the appropriate button on her duel disk nothing happened. "Huh?"

"It is useless." Mithril told her. "When Red-Eyes Black Alloy Dragon attacks, my opponent is not allowed to activate Spell or Trap cards until after that battle."

Red-Eyes opened his metal jaws and fired off an intense blast of red energy at Rio's monster. Sub Zerofyne was instantly vaporized by the attack. The blast continued until it hit Rio, nearly knocking her off the cliff she was on and bringing her life points to zero. When the attack ended, Rio fell to the ground unconscious. Red-Eyes vanished and the color of the surrounding area returned to normal. Mithril calmly walked over and picked up Rio bridal style. Brimstone began to clap as the masked woman carried her towards him.

"Hot damn! You really are something, lady." Brimstone praised. "And to think your 'prince' has you working for free."

"I have no need of money." Mithril coldly replied. "My devotion to my prince is all I need to satisfy me."

"Suit yourself, babe." Brimstone replied with a shrug. "Now let's get our captured princess back to your boss so Splicer and I can get paid."

"Hey!" a voice interrupted. The duo turned to see Thomas standing a few feet away with Cleo and Iris.

"Well, well. If it isn't doll boy and two of his friends." Brimstone observed. "Looks like Splicer wasn't able to keep all of you busy."

"Let Rio go now!" Cleo ordered.

"Sorry, but the payday on this job's too good." Brimstone told her. "Later."

Suddenly Brimstone threw a smoke bomb at the three, causing the whole area to be covered in thick grey smoke. By the time it finally cleared, Brimstone and Mithril were long gone, as was their captive. The only thing Cleo could do was call Rio's name at the top of her lungs.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Red-Eyes Black Metal Dragon has always been my favorite evolved form of the Red-Eyes, but while it was a cool monster in the anime and manga the real card pretty much sucks. One night last month when this story was in the outline stages I began to think about what the ideal version of the Red-Eyes Black Metal Dragon might be, and that's when the idea for Red-Eyes Black Alloy Dragon was born. I liked the concept for the card so much that I wanted to work it into this story somehow, and that's how the idea for Mithril came into existence. Originally Red-Eyes Black Alloy Dragon was going to be a Synchro Monster, but I thought it'd make more sense for it to be a Fusion Monster created by merging the original Red-Eyes with any old Machine monster. I only wish I could make it into a real card. It could revolutionize Cyberdark decks.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	9. Unbreakable Dragons

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

><p>Chapter 9: Unbreakable Dragons<p>

Rio awoke after an unknown amount of time to find herself inside a stone chamber with wall-mounted torches that cast a dim light over the room. She quickly found that she was tied to a chair. Looking around the blunette quickly saw Mithril, Brimstone and Splicer by the only door. Rio quickly recalled how she had lost a duel to Mithril and was knocked out by her final attack. And now she was in the clutches in the people who had been trying to capture her for some unknown purpose.

"Hey boss! She's finally awake!" Brimstone called through the door.

Rio could hear footsteps echoing in from the corridor beyond the chamber. As she watched to see just who it was that Brimstone and the other two worked for, she was shocked to see a familiar brown-haired young man walk in.

"Dante? You're behind this?" a stunned Rio asked.

"I'm afraid so." Dante confirmed. "I apologize for the manner in which I had to bring you in, but I knew you wouldn't come with me willingly."

"What is this all about?" Rio demanded to know.

"It's about an ancient score that is about to be settled after thousands of years." Dante explained. He then turned to Mithril. "Now then, dear Mithril, please go and extend my little invitation to Empress Sonja."

"At once, my prince." Mithril replied with a bow before walking out of the room.

"Sonja? Wait, are you talking about Cleo?" Rio suddenly realized.

"Very astute, my dear Rio." Dante confirmed. "Or should I say, Merag. It might surprise you to know that the three of us all go back a long way. You are a part of the legend of Sonja the Scarlet Empress that not many people know about, someone who was said to have meant a great deal to Sonja. And now you shall become the instrument of my revenge."

"If you think I'm going to help you in any way, you're crazy." Rio told him.

"Don't be so sure." Dante told her as he removed the crystal pendant hanging from his neck. "This little family heirloom of mine has some very interesting powers. Powers that I've used to make Mithril my obedient assassin. I'm certain that I can get you to cooperate."

With that, Dante began to swing his pendant back and forth before Rio's eyes. The crystal began to glow with a strange blue light. Rio found herself transfixed by the crystal, and soon her eyes began to glow with the strange blue light.

* * *

><p>Cleo sat at the campsite sulking while Byron and the others discussed what to do about rescuing Rio. Kazuma was still off exploring the ruins and wasn't answering their calls to his D-Gazer. Dante wasn't answering his D-Gazer either, and they assumed that he was off with Kazuma in the ruined castle.<p>

"Dammit, we're wasting time just sitting here!" a frustrated Thomas exclaimed.

"We're not simply sitting here. We're trying to come up with a plan." Faker told him.

"I sure hope Mr. Tsukumo is okay." Michael spoke. "It's kind of worrying that he hasn't answered our calls."

"I'm sure he's fine." Byron assumed. "He probably just isn't getting a signal inside the castle. But it's going to be a lot harder to find Rio without his help."

"Are we even sure that Rio's still on the island?" Iris interjected. "Those guys who kidnapped her could've left on a boat already or something."

"We should try and remain positive." Byron told them all. "It's very likely that Rio is still somewhere on the island."

"Even if she is, that's a lot of ground to cover." Faker pointed out. "We don't even know where to start looking."

"Empress Sonja!" a voice called. Everyone looked to see Mithril standing only a few feet away.

"You." Cleo spoke as she rose to her feet. "What the hell have you done with Rio?"

"She is safe for now, empress." Mithril assured her. "But to find out where she is, you will have to defeat me. In my possession is a map that will take you right to her, but the only way for you to get it is to take it from me."

"Wait a sec. Why is this woman calling Cleo an empress?" Iris wondered.

"The statue!" Michael realized. "Whoever's behind this thinks that Cleo is the Scarlet Empress!"

"So that's what all this is about?" Cleo asked Mithril. "This is all because I look like some empress who died thousands of years ago?"

"I am ready for battle when you are, empress." Mithril coldly replied.

"…Fine then!" Cleo agreed. "I'll take that map from you and paint the ground with your blood!"

With that, Cleo and Mithril activated their duel disks and D-Gazers. The others activated their own D-Gazers to watch and the color of the surrounding area quickly changed.

"I'll start this off!" Cleo declared as she drew her first card. "I set three cards on the field and end my turn!"

Mithril drew her first card. "I summon Hunter Dragon in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on Mithril's side of the field was a small black serpentine dragon. On its back were two small pairs of red wings.

"I activate my Traps, Shapesister and Cloning!" Cleo announced. "Shapesister is summoned to the field as a Tuner monster, and Cloning creates an exact copy of your dragon!"

A silver metal blob appeared on Cleo's side of the battlefield and morphed into a half-formed demonic woman. At the same time, a duplicate of Hunter Dragon appeared next to the demon blob.

"Hunter Dragon, attack Shapesister!" Mithril commanded. "Dark Dragon Spear!"

"I activate my final Trap, Urgent Tuning!" Cleo announced. "Using this card I can tune the level two Shapesister into the level three Hunter Dragon Clone for a level five Synchro Summon!"

Just as Hunter Dragon charged in to strike, Shapesister flashed orange and changed into two green rings of light. The two rings quickly encircled the clone of Mithril's dragon and transformed it into three white stars.

"Ruthless champion of dark justice who patrols this land! Appear before us and mow down these spineless worms!" Cleo chanted. "Synchro Summon! Charge forth, Stygian Sergeants!"

The stars flashed and became a pillar of white light that shot into the sky. After a moment the light faded to reveal Cleo's two-headed motorcycle demon.

"I set one card on the field and end my turn." Mithril announced.

"I'm going to end this now!" Cleo declared as she drew her next card. "Stygian Sergeants, attack Hunter Dragon!"

"I activate my face-down Spell, Ambush Fusion!" Mithril announced. "This card allows me to Fusion Summon an Alloy Dragon in Defense Mode. So I fuse Hunter Dragon with Mechanical Chaser in my hand to summon Green Alloy Dragon!"

A small vortex appeared in the air above the battlefield. Hunter Dragon was pulled into the vortex along with a robot with a spherical torso and several arms holding different weapons. Dropping out of the vortex a moment later and landing on the ground with a loud thud was a bulky mechanical bipedal dragon covered in green and silver armor. It had a large pair of wings on its back, and embedded in the center of its chest was a red orb. The dragon had an oversized jaw and two short silver spike-like horns on its head. On the top of its snout was another horn in the form of a silver blade.

"I've never seen cards like that before!" Thomas spoke. "What kind of deck does this girl have?"

"That metal dragon of yours only has 2100 ATK." Cleo observed. "It will be easy for my Stygian Sergeants to crush it! Little tactics like that aren't going to save you!"

"Then go ahead and attack me if you're so sure." Mithril dared.

"Fine! Stygian Sergeants, crush Green Alloy Dragon!" Cleo commanded. "Tyrant Wheel!"

The two-headed demon sped forward and headed straight for Mithril's dragon. Green Alloy Dragon then wrapped its green metal wings around itself. Stygian Sergeants rammed into the dragon, only for to be knocked back over to Cleo's side of the field. Cleo's life points dropped to 3000.

"What… what just happened?" a stunned Cleo demanded to know.

"When Green Alloy Dragon is attacked, half of the enemy's ATK points are added to its DEF during the battle." Mithril explained.

"Fine then! Before I end my turn, I activate the Spell card, Smashing Ground!" Cleo announced. "This card instantly destroys your monster with the highest DEF!"

A ball of blue light came down from the sky and struck Green Alloy Dragon, creating an explosion of fire and smoke. When the smoke cleared however, the metal dragon was unharmed. Its armor wasn't even tarnished.

"A valiant try, empress. But Green Alloy Dragon is immune to the effects of my opponent's Spell cards." Mithril revealed. "As are all the Alloy Dragon's at my disposal."

"No way!" Michael exclaimed. "Just what kind of cards are these Alloy Dragons?"

"Dammit! If Cleo screws up our only chance to save Rio, I'm gonna kill her!" Thomas declared.

"Are you done, empress?" Mithril asked.

Cleo gritted her teeth in frustration. "I end my turn."

Mithril drew her next card. "I equip Green Alloy Dragon with the Spell, Raregold Armor. Due to this card, Green Alloy Dragon is now the only monster you are allowed to attack." The green dragon began to glow with a golden aura. "Next I summon Jinzo 7 in Attack Mode!"

Appearing next to the metal dragon was a purple cybernetic humanoid with blue glowing eyes. Its head was covered mostly in silver metal, and built into the top of its head was a transparent panel that exposed its brain. Covering the creature's left shoulder was a piece of blue armor with the number 07 painted in white.

"Jinzo 7, attack Empress Sonja directly!" Mithril commanded. "Psyshock!"

The cyborg's eyes began to glow brighter and it fired a bolt of blue energy from the transparent plate built into its head. Cleo was struck in the chest and her life points took a slight drop to 2500.

"Whoever this woman is, she's set up a pretty good strategy." Michael observed. "Unless Cleo does something soon, she can keep hiding behind her dragon while she uses Jinzo 7 to slowly chip away at her life points."

"I end my turn." Mithril announced. "It is pointless for you to keep struggling, empress. In the end, this battle can only end with your defeat."

"Damn you!" Cleo cursed.

"Cleo, just calm down!" Iris called. "If you don't take a breath and think things through, you'll only end up losing the same way you did to Thomas! Right now you're the only chance we have of saving Rio! If you lose, we may not get another one!"

Cleo heard Iris and realized she was right. She was rushing through her moves to try and finish Mithril off as fast as possible, and it was causing her to make mistakes. And right now she couldn't afford a single one. After taking a breath, Cleo calmly drew her next card. Upon seeing the card she drew, the way to break through Mithril's defense became clear.

"I summon Force Resonator in Attack Mode!" Cleo announced. The little cloaked demon appeared on her side of the field. "I tune the level two Force Resonator into the level five Stygian Sergeants for a level seven Synchro Summon!"

Force Resonator shot a few bolts of lighting into the air from his fingertips before changing into two green rings of light. The rings encircled the motorcycle demon and changed it into five white stars.

"Lord of Chaos who rules the Underworld! Arise from the depths and crush these weaklings!" Cleo chanted. "Synchro Summon! Appear before us, Chaos King Archfiend!"

The stars flashed and became a pillar of crimson flames. After a moment the flames died down to reveal a slender humanoid demon clad mostly in purple. On its elbows it had long curved spikes. It had a white mask for a face and for hair it had billowing red smoke.

"Chaos King Archfiend, attack Green Alloy Dragon!" Cleo commanded. "Chaos Hellfire!"

"Your new monster may have 2600 ATK points, but you forget that Green Alloy Dragon's DEF will rise by half that amount during the battle." Mithril reminded Cleo.

"Oh, I didn't forget." Cleo told her. "But what you need to know is that when Chaos King Archfiend attacks at monster, that monster's ATK and DEF are switched! And your green metal dragon only had 1000 ATK!"

Chaos King Archfiend shot forth a stream of red flames from his claws that struck Green Alloy Dragon's wings. The flame attack broke through the metal wings and the dragon was destroyed in an explosion of fire and smoke.

"I end my turn." Cleo announced.

Mithril drew her next card. "It appears I underestimated you, empress. Which means I must come at you with all the power I have. I activate Polymerization and fuse Jinzo 7 with Red-Eyes Black Dragon from my hand to summon Red-Eyes Black Alloy Dragon!"

The slender black dragon suddenly appeared above the battlefield in the middle of a swirling vortex. Jinzo 7 was pulled up towards the dragon and was turned into particles of red light. The particles entered Red-Eyes and caused his body to give off bolts of red electricity. In moments the dragon's body had become covered in black metal and he dropped down to the ground with a loud thud that shook the earth. Red-Eyes roared at Cleo and the others with a harsh metallic screech.

"What the hell?" Thomas exclaimed.

"Red-Eyes obliterate Chaos King Archfiend!" Mithril ordered. "Dark Gigaflare!"

Red Eyes opened its jaws and fired an immense blast of red energy towards Chaos King Archfiend. The demon king was vaporized in an instant by the shot. The blast continued onwards and knocked Cleo to the ground. Her life points dropped to a mere 1000.

"Hey! Cleo shouldn't have take that much damage from that attack!" Iris realized.

"You're right! Red-Eyes Black Alloy Dragon only had a 200 point advantage over Chaos King Archfiend." Michael replied. "Unless it has an effect that's the opposite of Green Alloy Dragon's!"

"You are correct." Mithril confirmed. "When Red-Eyes Black Alloy Dragon attacks an enemy, it gains half that enemy's ATK during the battle."

"So… you have an improved version of that antique black dragon." Cleo spoke as she got to her feet. "Not a bad card, but it'll take more than that dragon to defeat me."

"I set one card on the field and end my turn." Mithril announced.

Cleo drew her next card. "I discard one card to summon The Tricky from my hand!"

Materializing on Cleo's side of the battlefield was a caped jester-like figure clad in yellow and black. His face was covered completely by a mask with a large red question mark.

"Next I summon Clock Resonator in Attack Mode!" Cleo announced.

Appearing next to The Tricky was another of Cleo's Resonator demons. The feature that set Clock Resonator apart from his brethren was that his back supported a large clock that was a little more than twice the size of its body.

"Now I'll show you the power of a real dragon!" Cleo declared. "I tune the level three Clock Resonator into the level five Tricky for a level eight Synchro Summon!"

Clock Resonator clinked his tuning fork against the metal rod he was holding and changed into three rings made of green light. The rings encircled The Ticky and changed the jester into five white stars.

"The ruler's heartbeats will now file through here! Take witness to its creation-shaking power!" Cleo chanted. "Synchro Summon! My very soul, Red Dragon Archfiend!"

The stars flashed into a column of light. The light faded after a moment and Cleo's faithful dragon emerged with a roar.

"Red Dragon Archfiend, crush that mechanical dragon!" Cleo commanded. "Absolute Power Force!"

Red Dragon Archfiend swung his fist at Red-Eyes as a large red fireball appeared in the palm of his hand. Upon being hit, the black metal dragon exploded and its pieces scattered over the battlefield. Mithril's life points took a slight drop to 3800.

"So much for Red-Eyes." Cleo remarked.

"I activate the Continuous Trap, Immortal Jin Long!" Mithral announced.

Suddenly the metal remains of Red-Eyes turned into blobs of black metal and began to converge in one spot. In moments the blobs reformed into the black mechanical dragon, much to the shock of Cleo and the others.

"What trick is this?" Cleo demanded to know.

"When an Alloy Dragon is destroyed in battle, Immortal Jin Long revives it from the Graveyard." Mithril explained. "As long as Immortal Jin Long is on the field, Red-Eyes can no longer be destroyed in battle. Not that it matters, since you will not survive the next turn. When Red-Eyes attacks, your red dragon will be destroyed and your life points will fall to zero. This duel is all but over."

"You're probably one of the most annoying opponents I've ever faced." Cleo replied. "Who are you, anyway?"

"I am called Mithril." The masked woman answered. "The unbreakable sword and shield of Prince Zahn."

"Wait, as in Zahn the Black Diamond?" Michael recalled. "He's the prince from the legend about Sonja! The one who she supposedly died against."

"So whoever's behind this is under the delusion that he's this diamond prince and that Cleo is the Scarlet Empress." Faker observed. "But the question is why this person captured Rio?"

"Empress Sonja, Prince Zahn sent me here to test your power." Mithril continued. "But I can see you are not worthy of his time."

"Don't underestimate me." Cleo told her. "This duel isn't over yet. For now though, all I can do is end my turn."

"Then it is your doom." Mithril coldly told her as she drew her next card. "Red-Eyes obliterate Red Dragon Archfiend! Dark Gigaflare!"

Red-Eyes opened his metal jaws again and fired another intense blast of red light. Just before the blast could hit through, a ghostly figure with long white hair clad in black armor appeared in front of Red Dragon Archfiend and pushed against the attack. In seconds the energy from the blast dissipated and the white-haired figure vanished.

"What have you done?" Mithril asked.

"The card I discarded earlier to summon The Tricky is a monster called Necro Guardna." Cleo explained. "By banishing Necro Guardna from the Graveyard I can negate the attack of one of my opponent's monsters."

"A futile move." Mithril responded. "You are only postponing your demise. Regardless, I shall end my turn here."

"Then it's time I put an end to this duel!" Cleo declared as she drew her next card. "I active the Spell, Mystical Space Typhoon and destroy Immortal Jin Long!"

A small twister appeared behind Mithril's large Trap card and caused it to shatter to bits. Red-Eyes roared and then suddenly exploded in flash of red sparks and flames.

"My… Red-Eyes…" a noticeably startled Mithril spoke.

"Well, well. It seems that metal Red-Eyes of yours needed that Trap in order to stay alive." Cleo observed with a smirk. "That makes finishing this even easier. I summon Archfiend Soldier in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on Cleo's side of the field was a demonic horned soldier clad in purple and gold armor. On his back was an olive-green cape with a red interior.

"Archfiend Soldier, attack Mithril directly!" Cleo commanded. "Savage Sword!"

The demon warrior charge forth and slashed Mithril in the side with a sword that had a large curved blade. Her life points took a heavy drop to 1900.

"Red Dragon Archfiend, attack her directly and end this!" Cleo ordered. "Absolute Power Force!"

Another fireball appeared in the red dragon's hand as he moved in to attack Mithril. With one swing, Mithril was knocked back almost six feet and her life points plummeted to zero. Upon hitting the ground, Mithril's mask broke in half. With the duel over, Cleo's monsters vanished and the color of the surrounding area returned to normal. Soon after, Mithril's right arm gave off a huge electrical spark.

"Hmm… interesting." Faker spoke before walking over. Kneeling down at Mithril's side, he began to examine her right arm. "This arm is prosthetic."

"You mean she's a cyborg?" Michael asked.

"Never mind that!" Cleo cut in. "She said she had a map to where Rio was! Where is it?"

Faker looked and noticed a folded piece of paper in the green-haired woman's belt. Taking the paper, he unfolded it and saw a map drawn on it. Before the old scientist could take a good look at it, Cleo snatched the map from his hand.

"Iris! Let's go!" Cleo ordered as she began to walk off after taking a look at the map.

"Um, okay." Iris replied as she quickly followed after her.

"Wait just a damn minute!" Thomas protested. "You're not going anywhere without us!"

"The last thing I need is help from scum like you!" Cleo shot back. "Besides, the map says that if I bring anyone with me other than Iris, Rio will be killed. I'm not going to take any chances."

"Then I guess we have no choice but to let you handle it." Byron replied. "Good luck, Cleo."

"I don't need luck." Cleo told him. "This time I will save Rio! And I will crush whoever's behind this and see him driven before me!"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Truth be told, I feel like I could've written the duel in this chapter a little better. It had started out pretty good, but I ended up struggling a little bit with the ending. I kind of think that I had gotten a little carried away with the whole Alloy Dragon thing. I was going to try and show other members of this archetype like a Red Alloy Dragon and a Blue Alloy Dragon, but I just couldn't work them in. Maybe I should've kept things simple and had Mithril use a Cyberdark deck with Red-Eyes Black Alloy Dragon.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	10. Frozen Heart

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

><p>Chapter 10: Frozen Heart<p>

Thomas paced around the campsite while Faker and the others tended to the unconscious Mithril. The former mad scientist was busy repairing the young woman's cybernetic arm using tools he had brought with him. The waiting was really getting on Thomas's nerves. He wanted to leave the camp and go off after Cleo and Iris to find Rio. But as it was, Cleo had taken the only map to where Rio was. Plus there was the chance that the person who had threatened to kill Rio if Cleo showed up with anyone other than Iris was very real. Even so, it wasn't like Thomas to just sit on his hands and do nothing when someone close to him was in danger.

"I still can't believe you brought such a tool kit with you, Faker." Byron remarked as Faker continued his repairs.

"I believe in being prepared for any situation that may come up." Faker replied. "And as you can clearly see, Byron, my preparations have paid off."

"So if this woman's a cyborg, does that mean she's some kind of super soldier?" Michael wondered.

"Actually, this type of prosthetic arm is used fairly often these days by normal doctors to replace severed limbs lost in accidents." Faker revealed. "This young woman probably didn't have her arm replaced intentionally." The old scientist finished patching another wire and closed the panel in Mithril's upper arm. "There. That should take care of it."

Suddenly as if on cue, Mithril began to stir and slowly sat up holding her head. "Where am I?"

"So you're finally awake." Thomas spoke as he walked over. "You better tell us where you took Rio, or else."

"Who?" Mithril asked. "What are you talking about? Who are you people?" She then noticed the tight-fitting body armor she had on. "What the hell am I wearing? Oh god! Don't tell me I got carried away partying with the girls again! Well, at least I didn't wake up in bed with some guy who's name I can't remember… or in a jail cell."

"Um, Ms.? We might be able to help you if you could just tell us who you are." Michael suggested.

"My name's Alyssa." The former masked duelist replied. "Alyssa Fairbanks."

"What the… Fairbanks?" a surprised Thomas exclaimed.

"Young lady, you wouldn't happen to be related to Dante Fairbanks, would you?" Byron asked.

"That's my little brother." Alyssa revealed. "Wait, do all of you know him? What exactly is going on here?"

"Wait a minute… does this mean that Dante's the one who's been behind this whole thing?" Michael asked.

"It's starting to look that way." Faker agreed.

"Will you people just tell me what the hell's going on?" Alyssa demanded. "My brother's done something bad, hasn't he?"

"You say that like you're not entirely surprised." Byron observed.

At this, Alyssa sighed. "…My brother hasn't been quite right for awhile now. It started about two years ago. I was on a trip with my parents and the plane we were on crashed. My parents died and I ended up with a metal arm. Dante was pretty broken up over the whole thing. I was too, obviously, but Dante was hit I think a little harder than I was. Then one day he found this old crystal pendant that's apparently been in our family for ages, and that's when he started getting kind of weird. He told me once that the pendant showed him things. It said that he was the reincarnation of some prince from ancient times or something."

"Didn't you try and get help for him?" Faker asked.

"Well yeah. I took him to like three different shrinks after I got out of the hospital, but they all said he was normal." Alyssa answered. "He probably denied everything during the sessions and those doctors somehow bought it. My little brother always has been a smooth talker."

"From the sound of it, Dante must think he's Zahn the Black Diamond." Michael assumed. "He probably thinks that Cleo is the Scarlet Empress and is trying to get revenge on her."

"Will you people please tell me what's going on already?" Alyssa asked.

"That I'm afraid is going to take some time." Byron told her. "And you're probably not going to like what you're about to hear."

* * *

><p>Cleo and Iris had been walking though the forest for a little over fifteen minutes. Fortunately, the place where Rio was being held wasn't very far according to the map. They would be there as soon as they left the forest.<p>

"Hey Cleo, mind if I ask you something?" Iris asked, breaking the long silence that had been hanging over them since they left camp. "There was no warning on the map saying that only you and I could go, was there?"

"…You really are pretty sharp." Cleo admitted. "I didn't want IV or any of his family getting in my way."

"So why'd you let me come?" Iris asked.

"Because… I need your help." Cleo admitted. "You've probably noticed that I haven't really been thinking straight. But for some reason you're able to help me stay focused, like you did in that last duel. Maybe it's because you look so much like Rio, I don't know. But I need you to keep doing that for me right now."

"I'll do my best." Iris assured her.

At last, the two of them exited the forest and saw some kind of small stone hut before them. From where they were, they could see a person standing in front of the open door. As they ventured closer, they saw that it was Dante.

"Hello, Cleo. I see that you were able to defeat Mithril after all." Dante greeted. "Of course I had my doubts, considering your performance lately. But I'm happy to see that I was wrong. Otherwise most of my efforts would've been for nothing."

"Fairbanks!" Cleo spoke as her hands balled into fists at her sides. "So you've been behind this the whole time! What have you done with Rio?"

"I assure she's unharmed. Though that may change if you fail to do exactly what I say." Dante told her. He then produced a steel manacle with a counter on it and threw it to Cleo. "Please put that on your upper right arm. If you don't, I can easily have Rio's throat slashed with a snap of my fingers."

Gritting her teeth, Cleo did as she was instructed and placed the device on her arm. The device locked itself upon being closed and red numbers appeared on the counter.

"The device you're now wearing is going to play a key part in the duel that's about to take place." Dante explained. "Should you win, the device will detach itself and they'll be no harm done. But if your life points reach zero, and I have absolute faith that they will, the device will inject you with a fast-acting and very fatal toxin that will kill you in seconds."

"Will you at least tell me what all this is about?" Cleo asked.

"From the very beginning, this has been all about settling our ancient battle from long ago, Sonja." Dante told her.

"What are you talking about, Dante?" Iris asked.

"I think that should be obvious, little Iris." Dante replied. "I am the reincarnation of great Zahn the Black Diamond, prince of the grand lost kingdom of Obsidia!"

"You really are delusional." Cleo told him.

"After thousands of years, our destinies have led us here back to this place, Sonja." Dante continued. "And at long last, I shall finally have my revenge."

"Well then, if this is about you and I battling, I'll be glad to take you on." Cleo told him. "Now I can finally put you in your place."

"I admire your enthusiasm, but I'm not the one you're going to be dueling." Dante told her.

With that, Dante snapped his fingers and stepped aside. Rio walked out of the stone structure looking like she was in some kind of trance.

"Rio!" Cleo called. "Are you okay?"

Rio looked at Cleo with a blank expression. "My dear Sonja… I will destroy you in the name of Prince Zahn."

"What the… Rio! Snap out of it!" Iris told her. "Do you even know what you're saying?"

At this, Dante laughed. "I'm afraid getting through to Rio is hopeless. Thanks to the power of my pendant, she is completely in my power."

"You're saying you can control people's minds?" Iris asked.

"You've already seen evidence of it." Dante told them. "The assassin you encounter before, Mithril is actually my older sister Alyssa. She had been starting to get in my way, so I used her to test my power and made her my loyal servant. And now I have done the same to Rio."

"Damn you!" Cleo cursed.

"There's no getting out of this duel, Sonja." Dante told Cleo. "If you refuse to duel, I'll simply order Rio to kill herself. She'll do it without question."

"Just do it, Cleo." Iris told her. "Maybe if you win, you can snap Rio out of this spell she's under."

"…Fine." Cleo agreed. "Let's get this over with!"

With that, Cleo and Rio activated their duel disks. When everyone's D-Gazers activated, the color of the surrounding area changed.

"I shall go first." Rio announced as she drew a card. "I set two cards on the field. Then I summon Aurora Phoenix in Defense Mode!"

Materializing on Rio's side of the battlefield was a bird that looked somewhat similar to a peacock. Its body was made of dazzling multicolored light like that of the aurora borealis.

"I end my turn." Rio announced.

Cleo drew her first card. "I summon Mad Archfiend in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on Cleo's side of the field was a humanoid demon with wild red hair. The only thing that could be told about his face was that he had yellow eyes. He had animal skulls on over his shoulders, and in the large mouth on his torso he had a white human skull.

"I activate the Continuous Trap, DNA Transplant!" Rio announced. "As long as this card is on the field, the attribute of all monsters on the field changes to whichever one I want. And the attribute I choose is Water."

"As if that will make any difference." Cleo told her. "Mad Archfiend, attack Aurora Phoenix!"

"I activate my other Trap, Diamond Dust!" Rio announced. "This card destroys all Water monsters on the field and deals 500 points of damage to my opponent for each one."

Just as Mad Archfiend began to charge, both he and Aurora Phoenix were hit by an ice-cold wind that blew over the battlefield and frozen in a thick layer of ice. The two monsters shattered to bits and the shards struck Cleo, causing her life points to drop to 3000.

"Are you done?" Rio coldly asked.

"I set one card on the field and end my turn." Cleo announced.

Rio drew her next card. "At the beginning of my turn, because Aurora Phoenix was destroyed by a card effect, it's summoned back to my side of the field."

An aurora appeared on Rio's side of the field and quickly changed into a dazzling ball of multicolored flames. The fireball ignited and changed into Rio's bird of light.

"Because Aurora Phoenix was summoned using her own effect, I can draw one more card." Rio announced. "Next I summon Aurora Wing in Defense Mode!"

Appearing next to Aurora Phoenix was another bird with a white body with massive wavy blue and green wings and tail feathers. On its head was a large wavy blue and green crest.

"Using my level four Aurora Phoenix and Aurora Wing, I build the overlay network and Xyz Summon my ultimate monster!" Rio announced. "Arise, Number 103: Ragnazero!"

A large vortex in the form of a swirling galaxy formed in the center of the field and pulled Rio's two birds in as balls of blue light. Rising out of the vortex moments later with a gust of snow and wind was a woman with grey skin wearing a sleeveless white dress with a long skirt. Down the front of the skirt was a large section of red, and around the skirt's end were several gold triangular ornaments. She had six golden blades of ice on her back, and in each hand was a curved ice sword. A red stocking covered the lower half of the woman's face. She had red eyes, and dark-blue hair arranged in a very ornate style. Two of the ornaments in her hair were two more long blades of ice. Written on one of the blades in strange red alien writing was the number 103.

"What kind of monster is this?" a surprised Cleo asked. "Fairbanks! Is this card another one of your creations?"

"I'm afraid I can't take credit for this card, but I'm certainly not complaining about its appearance." Dante replied.

"Cleo! You need to be really careful!" Iris told her. "That monster Rio just summoned is really dangerous!"

"Ragnazero, attack my dear Sonja directly!" Rio commanded. "Dance of Frozen Death!"

"I activate a Trap, Metal Reflect Slime!" Cleo quickly announced. "When activated, this card becomes a monster with 3000 DEF!"

A spiked silver blob suddenly appeared on Cleo's side of the field. It began to grow and change shape, taking the form of a muscular silver monster with the head of a bull.

"I end my turn." Rio announced.

Cleo drew her next card. "I sacrifice Metal Reflect Slime to summon the Tuner monster, Emissary from Pandemonium!"

The metal monster shattered to bits, and in its place appeared a very large blue dog with a mouth full of fangs and two very large red horns. Much of its body was covered in black armor adorned with several spikes and chains.

"Since I summoned Emissary from Pandemonium using only one tribute, it ATK and DEF are halved and its level drops from seven to five." Cleo continued. "Next I play the Spell card, Over Tuning and summon Phantom King Hydride from my hand!" Cleo's silver horseman appeared on the field. "Using Hydride as a non-Tuner, I tune the level five Pandemonium Emissary into the level three Hydride for a level eight Synchro Summon!"

The blue demon hound howled and changed into five green rings of light. The encircled Hydride and changed him into three white stars.

"The ruler's heartbeats will now file through here! Take witness to its creation-shaking power!" Cleo chanted. "Synchro Summon! My very soul, Red Dragon Archfiend!"

The stars flashed and became a pillar of white light that shot into the air. In moments the light faded to reveal Cleo's red dragon.

"Red Dragon Archfiend, attack Ragnazero!" Cleo commanded. "Absolute Power Force!"

Red Dragon Archfiend moved in and struck Ragnazero with the large ball of flames that had formed in his palm. The ice maiden was struck and Rio's life points dropped to 3400. When the attack ended however, Ragnazero was still on the field.

"What? How can that monster still be alive?" a surprised Cleo asked.

"Only a Number can destroy another Number in battle." Rio explained. "And since I know for a fact that you don't have any Numbers of your own, as far as you're concerned Ragnazero's invincible."

"This is turning out much better than I thought it would." A pleased Dante remarked.

"Are you done, Sonja?" Rio asked.

"I… end my turn." Cleo announced.

Rio drew her next card. "I activate the Spell, Zero Blade! During this turn, Ragnazero can attack twice. But more importantly, your red dragon loses 1000 ATK."

Both of Ragnazero's swords began to glow with a blue light. At the same time, a twister of cold wind appeared around Red Dragon Archfiend and reduced his ATK to 2000.

"I activate Ragnazero's effect!" Rio announced. "Because the ATK of your monster's been lowered, I can detach an overlay unit from Ragnazero to destroy that monster and draw one card."

One of the balls of blue light orbiting around Ragnazero entered the guard of her right sword. The ice maiden waved the sword and hit Red Dragon Archfiend with a blast of snow and ice. In an instant, the dragon was frozen solid and his body shattered apart.

"Oh no!" Iris exclaimed. "If both of Ragnazero's attacks get through, Cleo's done for!"

Dante began to laugh manically. "This is perfect! My revenge will soon be fulfilled in the most ideal way! With this move Sonja will die at the hands of the one she loves most! And there's nothing she can do to stop it!"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> In case anyone reading hasn't realized it, Rio's Aurora Phoenix card is a card that I made up for this story. Something like this was bound to happen, since the number of known cards Rio used in the anime was pretty small. This what happens when characters in the anime don't duel very often.

Pleas review and let me know what you think.


	11. Daughter of Atlas

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

><p>Chapter 11: Daughter of Atlas<p>

"Ragnazero, attack her directly!" Rio commanded. "Dance of Frozen Death!"

Rio's ice maiden flew forward and twirled around to cut Cleo with her sword of ice. Iris averted her gaze to avoid seeing what she thought would be the deathblow while Dante looked on with an eager grin. Before Ragnazero could strike, however, a strange mostly black device suddenly materialized on Cleo's side of the battlefield. It had a black pendulum moving back and forth beneath it like the pendulum of an old clock. On the head of the device was a face similar to that of a bat or a gargoyle. The strange object let out a loud chime and hit Ragnazero with a blast of sound that pushed her back over to Rio's side of the battlefield.

"What the…! What did you just do, Sonja?" an outraged Dante demanded to know.

"When I'm attacked directly by an opponent's monster, I can summon Battle Fader from my hand to negate the attack and end the battle phase." Cleo explained. She then turned her attention back to her unwanted opponent. "You're going to have to do better than that, Rio."

"I end my turn." Rio coldly announced.

Cleo drew her next card. As she did, she suddenly heard an all to familiar laugh. Turing her head, she saw the Crimson Devil hovering next to her.

_"Seems like you're in a bit of a bind."_ Cleo's demon twin noted. _"I can help you get out of it, if you want. All you have to do is accept my offer."_

"The last thing I need is your help, demon." Cleo quietly told her.

_"You sure about that?"_ the Crimson Devil asked. _"It's not looking very good for you. Right now your best card is in the Graveyard and your dear Rio has a nearly indestructible monster out on the field. You're going to need a miracle to win this one, and I'm the one who's offering it."_

"Shut up!" Cleo told her. "I set one card on the field! Then I switch Battle Fader to Defense Mode and end my turn!"

Rio drew her next card. "I summon Blizzard Thunderbird in Attack Mode!" Her golden winged humanoid bird of ice appeared on the field. "Blizzard Thunderbird, destroy Battle Fader! Ice Lightning Strike!"

Blizzard Thunderbird let loose a cold wind and shot a bolt of blue lightning at Cleo's remaining monster. Battle Fader was struck in its bat-like face and shattered to bits in an instant.

"Ragnazero, attack my dear Sonja directly!" Rio ordered. "Dance of Frozen Death!"

Ragnazero flew full speed at Rio and twirled around as she slashed Cleo across the chest with the sword in her right hand. Cleo fell to one knee, as all the heat seemed to drain from her body. She felt like she had been out in a cold winter storm for hours. All the color seemed to drain from her body and her life points had fallen to a sparse 600.

"Cleo!" a very worried Iris called out.

"This is turning out to be a much more splendid duel than I thought it would." Dante laughed. "I would tell you to make it easier on yourself, Sonja and just surrender. You would die without suffering more than you already have. But then you've always been the kind who's too stupid to surrender even when they know they have no chance of winning. Plus it's more entertaining for me to see you suffer as much as possible."

"I… I'm not giving up, Fairbanks." Cleo told him as she finally got back to her feet. "Not until Rio is free from this spell you've put her under!"

"I see. Well then let me tell you what will happen to your precious Rio if by some miracle you happen to win." Dante told her. "Why don't you take a look at Rio's arm? Notice anything familiar?"

Cleo looked and saw a familiar silver device on Cleo's right upper arm. It was identical to the device that Cleo had been forced to put on before the start of the duel. To her horror, Cleo realized that Rio was dueling under the same conditions that she was.

"Figure it out?" Dante asked. "If you do by some miracle win this duel, Rio will be injected with the same toxin as you will. It would've been unfair after all to make you the only one to duel under such harsh stakes."

"Damn you!" Cleo cursed.

"It's your choice, Sonja." Dante told her. "Either surrender and give up your own life to save the life of your princess, or somehow win and watch her die before your very eyes."

"No way!" Iris exclaimed. "How is that even a choice? There has to be some other option!"

"There is none, dear Iris." Dante told her. "There are only two ways that this duel can end. And either way, I'm the only one who's going to win."

"I set one card on the field and end my turn." Rio announced. "It's your move, dear Sonja."

Cleo was at a loss as to what to do. She couldn't win, not if it meant killing Rio. Yet if she lost, there was every chance that Dante would continue to use her. It seemed like an impossible choice.

_"Now will you accept my offer?"_ the Crimson Devil asked. _"Clearly you don't have what it takes to see this duel through to the end."_

"Shut up." Cleo told her.

_"I can end this for you though."_ The demon offered. _"All you have to do is give yourself over to me. With my power I can finish this duel. The girl will die of course, but I can at least help you get revenge by allowing you to crush the one responsible for leading the girl to her death. Then after that we can make this entire world ours. You'll be the one standing at the top as the ultimate duelist. I know that has to appeal to you."_

"Just what are you exactly?" Cleo asked.

_"My true name is Red Nova, and I am the one who can give you absolute power."_ The demon answered. _"The kind of power that can make even the gods tremble in fear. All you have to do is give yourself over to me."_

"And what about Rio?" Cleo asked.

_"Forget that girl."_ The Crimson Devil told her. _"She's lost to you now. After this duel, you can have any woman you want along with the rest of the world. Now will you just stop this hesitating already and let me help you? There's no way you can keep saying no."_

"Go to hell." Cleo told her. "You say you offer me the world. Well nothing is worth the cost of Rio's life! And I'll be damned if I ever give myself over to someone like you!"

With that, Cleo's Signer mark began to glow with a blazing red light. Her violet eyes turned crimson and her body began to give off a brilliant red aura like a burning flame, startling Iris and Dante.

_"What… what are you doing?"_ the demon asked with a look of fright.

"You say you offer me power, then fine." Cleo spoke as she drew her next card. "But I'm going to take that power from you and use it how I want to! I summon Barrier Resonator in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on Cleo's side of the battlefield was yet another Resonator demon. On the back of the demon was a device that looked like an electric generator, and on the banner on the front of his torso was the symbol of an orange lightning bolt.

"Now I activate my Trap, Archfiend's Roar!" Cleo announced. "By paying 500 life points I can summon an Archfiend monster from my Graveyard! Arise Red Dragon Archfiend!"

Cleo's life points dropped to 100 and a pillar of red flames burst up through the ground next to Barrier Resonator. The fames subsided after a moment to reveal Red Dragon Archfiend.

"Because I now have a level eight Synchro Monster on the field, I summon Creation Resonator from my hand!" Cleo announced.

Another Resonator demon appeared on the field. On the back of the small demon was a large blue fan attached to a cursed metal rod with two blue-feathered wings on the sides. Adorning the banner on the front of Creation Resonator's robes was a yellow symbol that resembled an inverted S.

_"No… no, you can't do this!"_ the Crimson Devil told Cleo.

"I tune the level one Barrier Resonator and the level three Creation Resonator into my level eight Red Dragon Archfiend for a level twelve Synchro Summon!" Cleo announced.

Both of the little demons clinked their tuning forks against the metal rods they were holding and turned into four rings made of crimson flames. The rings encircled Red Dragon Archfiend and formed into a large ball of fire similar to that of a star. At the same time, several tendrils of red light shot from Cleo's Signer Mark and snared the Crimson Devil.

_"No! Not again!"_ the demon cried as her body began to turn into red light. _"Damn you and your accursed father! DAMN YOUUUU!"_

With that, the demon was completely transformed into red energy and pulled into the Singer Mark. A split second later, a new card formed in Cleo's right hand.

"The Empress and the Devil shall here and now be as one! A Raging Spirit! Lift up the very cries of Creation itself!" Cleo chanted. "Synchro Summon! The power to smite the gods, Red Nova Dragon!"

With a roar, Red Dragon Archfiend burst from the ball of flames in a new form. He was larger and was mainly bright red and dark black. On his back were four very large blade-like wings. Blade-like spikes ran down the length of his back, and the end of its tail resembled a large axe. On the back of the dragon's head was a large horn that went straight back, while on the sides of his head were two smaller horns that curved forward. On the front of the dragon's chest was a small blue diamond.

Rio's Blizzard Thunderbird seemed to shake in fear upon seeing the new dragon. Even Ragnazero's hands had started to tremble a bit.

"This… this isn't possible!" a shocked Dante declared. "How can you already have the very kind of power that I've been seeking? The power that was left in these island ruins?"

"Red Nova Dragon gains 500 ATK points for every Tuner in my Graveyard." Cleo continued. "Right now there are four Tuners, which means his ATK rises from 3500 to 5500!"

"I activate my Trap, Blizzard Gale!" Rio announced. "By sacrificing Blizzard Thunderbird, your dragon will lose ATK equal to the ATK of Blizzard Thunderbird until the end of the turn!"

The humanoid bird of ice suddenly exploded and turned into a swirling mass of snow. The snow blew at Red Nova and covered the dragon in a layer of frost. Red Nova's ATK dropped to 3700.

"I activate Ragnazero's effect!" Rio announced. "Because the ATK of your dragon's been lowered, I can detach on overlay unit to destroy it and draw one card!"

The remaining ball of light orbiting around the snow maiden went into the sword in her left hand. Ragnazero swung the sword at Red Nova and covered the dragon in a thick layer of ice. Rather than shattering apart though, Red Nova burst out of his icy encasement with a roar, startling Rio and Dante. Even Ragnazero's eyes widened in shock upon seeing the dragon survive.

"Nice try, but Red Nova can't be destroyed by my opponent's card effects." Cleo revealed.

"Well, you may have a nearly indestructible dragon, but just what do you intend to do with it?" Dante asked Cleo. "In case you've forgotten, the moment you win your death princess will suffer death by poison."

"One way or another, I will find a way to get Rio and myself out of this duel alive!" Cleo declared. "And then I'm going to make sure you never hurt her again! Red Nova, attack Ragnazero! Burning Soul!"

Red Nova roared and his body became covered in red flames. The dragon flew at Ragnazero and collided into the snow maiden at top speed. Suddenly the card for Ragnazero in Rio's duel disk began to give off bolts of blue lightning that caused her duel disk to spark. At the same time, the card for Red Nova Dragon began giving off bolts of red lighting that did the same to Cleo's duel disk. Cleo's Signer Mark began to burn even brighter, and Dante's pendant began to shine and swing wildly.

"What is the meaning of this?" Dante demanded to know.

"I don't know how, but Ragnazero and Red Nova Dragon seem to be reacting to one another!" Iris observed.

Cleo and Rio's duel disks continued to spark. The counters of the devices on their arms flashed the word error and suddenly shorted out, causing them to fall to the ground. Meanwhile the bodies of Red Nova and Ragnazero on the battlefield began to give off bolts of red and blue lighting. Rio was suddenly struck by one of the blue bolts while Cleo was struck by one of the red. An instant later both monsters seemed to explode with a blinding flash of white light that washed out the entire area.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Apologies for the somewhat short chapter. I guess I should've done Rio and Cleo's duel in one chapter, but I thought it'd take me longer to wrap up the duel. Oh well, that's just how it goes sometimes when writing duels. Anyway, this will probably be the last update I'll be able to do for the next few days. I've got a pretty busy week ahead of me this week. In addition to this monster assignment I have to complete for my online class I've also come some plans to go a little day trip with my aunt. Plus the next chapter goes into a pretty long flashback, so it'll take me a little while to finish. I should be able to get it up by the end of the week though, so stay tuned.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	12. Sonja and Merag, Part 1

**Important Author's Note:** To those of you reading who have been following this story since I put up the first chapter, you might have noticed that I changed the rating of this story from T to M. I had been considering this change for several chapters because of a few scenes I've been thinking of putting in. I probably would've made this an M rated story from the beginning, but I felt that a T rated story would probably get more readers. But as I prepared to write this chapter, I realized that some of the backstory in this chapter might be a little too… dark for a T rating. So I've decided to air on the side of caution. This also means that there will most likely be some pretty steamy scenes in the later chapters, so consider yourselves warned.

That said, it's time to begin the epic flashback into the ancient past. This chapter's taken me a few days to write, but I hope it's worth the wait. The following takes place some time before Vector's attack on the United Lands of the Poseidon Ocean.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

><p>Chapter 12: Sonja and Merag, Part 1<p>

In the moment when Ragnazero and Red Nova clashed, a seal was broken and more Rio's ancient memories from her past life were unlocked. Her mind went back thousands of years to the time when she was Merag, princess of the United Lands of the Poseidon Ocean. It was just past midday and Merag was aboard a ship sailing to the Kingdom of Obsidia on a diplomatic mission. Obsidia's ruler wished to form an alliance with the Lands of the Poseidon Ocean and had specifically requested to negotiate personally with a member of the royal family. So somewhat reluctantly, Merag's brother Nasch had sent her to tend to the matter.

As Merag sat at the desk in her quarters reading a scroll, she suddenly felt something huge strike against the side of the ship. The impact was strong enough to knock her out of her chair. A few moments after she had gotten back to her feet, one of the crewmen aboard this ship burst into the room.

"Princess! We've been boarded!" the crewman reported. "I must ask you to remain here until the invaders are driven off the ship."

"Who is it that's attacking us?" Merag asked.

Before the crewman could answer he was knocked over the back of the head with the handle of someone's sword. Stepping over the crewman's unconscious form was a fairly large soldier clad in red and gold armor that covered his torso and waist, along with a red and gold helmet.

"Princess Merag, I ask you to come with me." The solider told her. "If you don't come willingly, I will have no choice but to take you by force. There is no chance of escape, as your men have already been dispatched."

Seeing no other option, Merag went with the solider. Her hope was that the rest of the crew would come to her rescue, but upon coming on deck she found that they had indeed all been neutralized by the invaders. Whether the other crewmembers were dead or simply knocked out, she couldn't tell. She could tell that many of them were at least wounded though, and it was very likely that many of them had indeed perished at the hands of the invaders. The solider and his comrades forced Merag onto their vessel, a large warship with a large black sail baring the symbol of a yellow heart inside a red flame. Merag recognized the symbol from briefings at the royal court as the sign of a fairly small yet formidable empire.

"So, you people are from the Empire of Scarnova." Merag deduced.

"Very good, princess." The solider that abducted her confirmed. "Our empress ordered us to intercept you before reached Obsidia. Now that you're aboard, we can be on our way."

With that, Merag was taken to the ships brig as they set sail. As Merag waited inside her new prison she began to wonder about exactly why she had been abducted. She did not know very much about the Empire of Scarnova beyond the fact that they were a particularly ruthless empire led by an empress who was said to be a skilled warrior and commander. As for why she had been captured, Merag thought that perhaps Scarnova didn't want an alliance between Obsidia and the United Lands of the Poseidon Ocean to happen. The other possibility was that Scarnova wished to declare war on her homeland, and capturing the princess was a very good way to do that.

After several more minutes, the ship finally arrived at Scarnova's island capital. As soon as the ship reached port, Merag was forced to disembark the ship with an escort of ten soldiers. The blue-haired princess was lead through the streets towards the large palace in the distance. Many of the peasants that were out of the streets quickly cleared the way as they passed. After only a few short minutes of walking, Merag and her escort arrived at the castle. Outside was a large bronze statue of a woman who Merag assumed was the empress of Scarnova. She was surprised that empress of this little kingdom was so young, yet she also knew that Scarnova had been in existence for only a few years.

Upon entering the palace, Merag was brought before a very imposing-looking man who looked to be in his early to mid forties. He had dark skin and stood at about seven feet tall. In place of his right eye was a large scar that covered a good portion of his face. He wore armor similar to that of the soldiers, along with a flowing red cape.

One of the soldiers escorting Merag stepped forward and kneeled before the giant. "General Rukon, we have brought Princess Merag as ordered."

"So I see." The man known as Rukon replied in a deep voice. "You have all done very well. Two of you shall remain here to help me escort the princess to the throne room. The rest of you shall return to your normal posts."

The soldiers nodded and eight of them marched off. The other two forced Merag to follow as Rukon led them into the throne room. The throne room was a large chamber made of tan brick. The left and right walls each had a set of four narrow windows with a tapestry in between them. Eight more soldiers stood a silent guard along those walls. At the far end of the room was the throne, and sitting in it was a young woman who appeared to be in her late teens. She had long dark hair and striking violet eyes, along with an athletic build and regal features fitting a queen. Atop her head was a golden crown with a red diamond-shaped gem in the front. Red and gold armor covered her chest and shoulders, and around her waist was a red armored skirt. On the bare skin around her bellybutton was a strange red birthmark that looked like a serpentine dragon clasping a heart in its front claw.

Rukon stepped towards the throne and kneeled. "Empress Sonja, I bring before you Princess Merag of the United Lands of the Poseidon Ocean."

"I take it this means the mission to intercept the princess's ship went well." Sonja replied as she rose from her throne. "See to it that every crew member of the ship that captured her is rewarded. Give them all medals or something."

"It shall be done, Empress." Rukon replied.

Sonja walked past Rukon and stood before Merag. "So you're the princess of this grand ocean kingdom that I've heard so much about. Looking at you now, I can see that the stories of your beauty have not been exaggerated a bit."

"I demand to know why you've captured me!" Merag told her in a commanding tone.

"Well, well. Beautiful and fiery." Sonja responded with a smirk. "This is turning out better than I thought. I was certain that you'd be some pitiful sobbing or frightened mess when I saw you. To answer your question, Princess, I brought you here because I cannot allow even a chance of an alliance between your kingdom and Obsidia. Obisdia is a blood enemy of my kingdom. If your kingdom were to join with them, they would be a much more annoying enemy to destroy."

"You do know that by holding me captive you are risking war between our two kingdoms." Merag pointed out.

"I strongly doubt that war with your kingdom is very likely." Sonja laughed. "Everyone knows how close you and that brother of yours are. Going to war with my empire would be putting your life at risk, and that would be the last thing he'd want to do. I effectively have a knife at his throat and he knows it."

"So what do you hope to gain by this act?" Merag asked.

"What I'm after is simple. An alliance with your kingdom in exchange for your release." Sonja explained. "In short, you're a bargaining chip, Princess. The best kind of bargaining chip I could hope for."

"You mean I'm a hostage." Merag corrected.

"Now I wouldn't go that far." Sonja replied. "Think of yourself as my honored guest here at the palace, one that's here on a very extended and indefinite stay. You're more than free to step outside of the palace and walk the streets, provided you're escorted by my guards of course."

"I'm guessing that taking me back to my homeland, though." Merag assumed. "You can give me all the privileges you want, but no matter how many you do, I'm still a prisoner."

"It's far better than the arrangement you would've had if you had made it to Obsidia." Sonja told her.

"What do you mean?" Merag asked.

"Prince Zahn was planning to do the same thing that I have done." Sonja explained. "Only he would've locked you in a room in one of the towers of his castle until you agreed to marry him. Of course seeing how strong-willed you obviously are, his efforts would most likely have been in vain."

"You truly expect me to believe that?" a skeptical Merag asked.

"Believe what you wish, Princess." Sonja told her as she turned and walked back towards her throne. "I'm just telling you of what the spy I have planted in Prince Zahn's court told me. Either way you were going to be forced to sit at a negotiating table. You just happened to be forced to sit at mine. And like it or not, the negotiations between our two empires has begun."

"And how long do you expect these 'negotiations' of yours to go on?" Merag asked.

"As long as it takes you and that brother of yours to see things my way." Sonja told her. "But don't worry, Princess. I'm sure we can all come to an understanding. In the meantime, make yourself at home." She snapped her fingers, causing the two soldiers that had come in with Merag to snap to attention. "Take the princess to her room and see to it that her needs are met."

The two soldiers saluted and began to escort Merag out of the throne room. It became clear to the bluenette princess that the discussion was over.

"Oh, an Princess?" Sonja spoke, causing Merag and her two escorts to stop. "I hope to see you tonight at dinner."

With that, Merag was taking to a fairly spacious room in the castle that was well furnished for a room of its time. One of the features was a single large window that provided an excellent view of the kingdom below, as well as the open ocean. Merag went over to the window and looked out at the waves, wondering how long it would take for her brother to find out she had been captured. She assumed that word of her abduction would either reach Nasch from Obsidia, or that Sonja would send her own message to tell him. Either way, it was going to take a few days for Nasch to find out what happened. In the meantime, the only thing that Merag could do at the moment was wait.

Evening fell within hours of Merag's arrival at the castle. By that time one of the servants working in the palace came to get her for dinner. Merag was escorted to a spacious yet minimally decorated room with a long table with several dishes of food laid out. Sonja was already sitting at one end of the table.

"Good evening, Princess." Sonja greeted. "Glad you decided to join me."

"It's not like I had much of a choice." Merag pointed out as she sat at the opposite end of the table.

"Not at all. You could've chosen to have your meal brought to your room." Sonja informed her. "Like I told you before, you're not my prisoner."

"I'm finding it hard to believe otherwise." Merag told her. "Do you really believe that these sort of actions will accomplish peace?"

At this Sonja chuckled and took a sip from her goblet. "Peace is something that I wish for just as much as you do. But the one thing I've learned about peace is that the only true way to achieve it is through force. We live in a savage age, Princess. In this world peace is not obtained by the stroke of a pen on a treaty, but is taken by the swing of a blade on the battlefield."

"That's just the kind of world view that I'd expect from a conqueror." Merag coldly responded.

"…Do you know how I became the empress of this kingdom, Princess?" Sonja asked. "I am not what you consider royal blood. I was born to a pair of poor farmers in a dirty little village that's probably already been long wiped off the map for all I know. The people of that village thought that the mark I bare on my stomach was a sign of evil and that I needed to be banished to avoid bringing ill fortune. So they killed my parents and sold me into slavery. Eventually I ended up as a servant at this castle. This whole large island was once an outpost to Obsidia, and the one who ruled this castle was a relatively minor member of Obsidia's royal family. He was an old man with pleasures that were far beyond what you and I would consider… obscene.

"One night not long after I had turned thirteen I was taken to the old man's room to satisfy his sick pleasures. He was drunk and smelled absolutely foul. I'm not ashamed to admit that in that moment I was terrified, but I also saw that his sword was still hanging at his waist. When he got close to try and have his way with me, I grabbed his sword and cut his belly. At that time Rukon, the man who has since become my most trusted general, fought his way to me along with some of his comrades. They were slaves like me, and that night be began a rebellion and made this land our kingdom."

"I… I had no idea." A shocked Merag spoke. "You've obviously lived a very hard life."

"You know what I learned that night, princess?" Sonja continued. "I learned that the only way to get anything in this world is through force. I took the freedom and power I have now I took with my bare hands. Since that time my empire has conquered other small kingdoms, and it is through conquest we shall achieve total world peace under my banner! Those who are will to join with me will be welcomed, but those who continue to oppose me even after their armies have fallen will be crushed under my heel!"

"So does that mean if my kingdom refuses to join with yours, we'll be crushed under your heel as well?" Merag asked.

"…That remains to be seen." Sonja answered. "But I will say that I would like very much for us to be allies. Now… I think we've both had enough of this talk for today. For now I would like us to simply relax and enjoy our meal. I'm sure you're terribly hungry after the day you've had."

Merag decided to let the matter drop and turned her attention to the food on the table. The two of them ate mostly in silence for much of the evening.

* * *

><p>The night had grown late and Sonja was heading back to her room for the night. Just as she was about to turn a corner she suddenly heard the sound of crying in a familiar voice. Following the sound, Sonja found Merag standing out on one of the palace balconies.<p>

"Princess?" Sonja spoke, startling the blunette and causing her to turn. "Are you okay?"

"Do you honestly care about my wellbeing?" Merag asked as she quickly tried to contain myself. "If you must know, I was crying because I miss my home and my brother! How do you expect me to feel being held captive like this?"

Sonja's expression saddened and she suddenly took Merag's hand. "I am truly sorry for causing you this pain. Perhaps it was a mistake to bring you here like this."

"…Do you really mean that?" Merag asked.

"It may be hard for you to believe, but I do." Sonja assured her.

"Then why don't you return me home then?" Merag suggested.

"…I probably would if the circumstances were better." Sonja told her. "But this situation is quickly growing more complicated. By now, Prince Zahn has probably found out that you're here, and he's probably not at all pleased. If I'm right, he's most likely begun deploying ships to try and surround the island. Any ship I try to send out past them would be attacked, which means your safety would be at risk."

"You know… I actually believe you." Merag admitted. "I don't know how exactly, but I can tell that you speak the truth."

A small smile appeared on Sonja's face. "As long as you are here, you will be as safe as you would be in your homeland. This I vow."

Merag managed a small smile of her own. "I should probably retire for the night. Goodnight, Empress."

With that, Merag headed off to her room. Sonja sighed with a troubled expression as she watched the princess walk off. After a moment, the dark-haired empress continued to her own room in the palace. By the time she got to the door she found Rukon waiting for her.

"I trust you haven't been waiting long, Rukon." Sonja spoke.

"Not at all, Empress." Rukon replied. "I apologize for bothering you this late, but I thought you should know that Prince Zahn has already started to deploy his blockade."

"He is a somewhat predictable enemy." Sonja remarked. "I trust you've sent word to our settlements."

"It has been done, but it will take time for our other forces to get here." Rukon replied. "And when they do, they will have a very hard time breaking through. Prince Zahn's title as The Black Diamond is well earned."

"I suppose there's now very little chance of returning Princess Merag to her home without putting her at risk." Sonja assumed.

"I did not know you were even considering that option." Rukon replied.

"…Our captive princess isn't at all like how I expected her to be." Sonja told him. "I find myself drawn to her somehow. Perhaps this plan to capture her before she reached Obsidia was the wrong move."

"You know very well that if we hadn't, she would've become Zahn's prisoner." Rukon pointed out. "Perhaps even worse, eventually. It was the right move, Sonja."

"Yes, I suppose you're right." Sonja agreed. "We really didn't have any other choice, did we? Still… you should've seen her moments ago. Still so strong willed and proud, yet she was crying about how she had been torn away from her home. Somehow it hurt me to see her that way."

"The best you can do for her right now is make her feel at home here." Rukon told her. "Try and make her feel as if this kingdom was her home. It may take some time, but I'm sure the princess will eventually start to feel at ease here."

"Yes… that's exactly what I'll do." Sonja replied. "First thing tomorrow morning I'm going to do everything in my power to lift Merag's spirits. Thank you, Rukon."

"I am always at your service, Empress." Rukon replied with a bow. "Goodnight."

With that, Rukon departed and left Sonja to prepare for bed. Later as she tired to go to sleep, Sonja began trying to think of ways to try and cheer Merag up.

* * *

><p>It was fairly early in the morning as Merag prepared to leave her room to walk around the palace. She felt that she needed to stretch her leg. As Merag finished getting dressed, she thought about the little encounter she had with Sonja before retiring to bed. It was starting to seem like the empress of Scarnova was a kinder person than she had been led to believe. Once she had finished getting dressed, Merag exited her room to find Rukon waiting for her out in the hallway.<p>

"Good morning, Princess." The one-eyed general greeted. "Empress Sonja thought you might like to tour the capital, so she sent me to get you."

"…I guess I am a little curious to see what this little kingdom of yours is like." Merag agreed.

Rukon nodded and led Merag down the hall. As they walked, a question came to Merag's mind.

"General Rukon… last night Sonja told me about how she rose to power." Merag revealed. "And about how you played an instrumental roll that night. If you don't mind my asking, why did you fight so hard to help her?"

At this, Rukon paused in his footsteps. "How much did the empress tell you about her life before that night?"

"Just that she had become a slave at a young age and that this land's former ruler tried to use her for his sick pleasures." Merag answered.

"Well then… if she told you that much, that will make things easier to explain." Rukon replied. "I too at that time was a slave, but before then I was a high-ranked soldier for another kingdom. But because I disagreed with the orders of my ruler I was punished. My wife and daughter were executed and I was forced into a life of servitude. Fate eventually led me to Sonja. There was something about her that reminded me so much of my own daughter. I took it upon myself to look after her, and taught her how to fight and survive.

"That night when I found out what that loathsome old man was planning to do to Sonja, I did everything in my power to save her. I rallied together a few other slaves who were also former soldiers and that night we broke free of our cells to go save her. But by the time we got to her, Sonja had already killed the old man. At that moment, one of my comrades suggested that it would be the perfect time to make the castle our own. When he said that, Sonja began to laugh and told us she had decided to become this land's new ruler."

"It sounds like Sonja's lucky to have someone like you as her right hand." Merag observed.

"I'm surprised that the empress told you about that night." Rukon responded. "While she's not ashamed of where she came from, that night is not something that's easy for her to speak of."

"One thing I am curious about though is why you let Sonja take the lead in conquering this land." Merag spoke.

"I am but a soldier, Princess." Rukon told her. "But Sonja… the role of empress was destined for her. She may not be considered to be of 'noble blood', but those who are rulers of kingdoms have the power they possess because one of their ancestors reached out and took it."

Merag nodded and the two of them continued walking. Within a few moments they reached the outer courtyard of the castle. Sonja was waiting for them along with several armed guards.

"Good morning, Princess." Sonja greeted. "Glad you decided to join me."

"I decided I could use some fresh air." Merag replied. "And I am a bit curious to see this kingdom of yours."

"Then let's be off." Sonja replied.

Sonja and Merag got into a pair of ornate chairs with poles attached to the legs that would allow the guards to carry them through the city. Within moments they began their procession through the city. Many of the people they passed on the street would stop and praise Sonja. It was becoming apparent to Merag that Sonja was well liked as a ruler. As they came to an intersection at the street they saw a man beating on a girl who looked to be no more than ten. She had a black eye, obviously from being struck by the man's fist. With a raise of Sonja's hand, the procession stopped and let her down. Sonja calmly walked up to the man and punched him in the jaw. Before he could fight back, two of Sonja's guards quickly rushed over and restrained him.

"Hey! What's the big idea?" the man demanded to know.

"Explain to me why you were beating on this child!" Sonja ordered.

"I don't need to explain a damn thing!" the man told her. "She's my no-good kid, and I can do with her however the hell I please!"

"Not under my rule you don't!" Sonja told him. "Scum like you are the lowest life forms on the face of this earth! Take him away and let the magistrate decide a proper punishment for him!"

The guards nodded and dragged the man off. Sonja turned her attention to the girl and held out her hand to her.

"Are you okay?" Sonja asked.

"I'm fine, empress." The girl answered as she took her hand.

Sonja smiled and patted her on the head before turning to another one of her guards. "See that she's taken care of."

The guard nodded and Sonja went back to her mobile throne. With her signal, the procession continued down the street.

"I'm sorry for that little diversion, Princess." Sonja told Merag.

"You know, you're actually a very kind person." Merag remarked. "Not exactly like the ruthless conqueror I've heard so much about."

"I am only ruthless to those who oppose me." Sonja replied. "Now then, shall we continue our little tour?"

"Let's." Merag replied, and with that they continued to tour the kingdom.

* * *

><p>Three weeks had gone by since Merag had come to the palace, and during that time Sonja and Merag had grown to be close friends. They were often seen around the palace in each other's company, and there were even a few times when Sonja would come to Merag for advice on certain matters. Sonja had never felt such a strong connection with anyone else in her life. There were many moments during the times she wasn't around Merag when her thoughts would suddenly wander back to the blue-haired princess. Sonja may have captured Merag, but in the end it seemed to her that Merag had captured her heart.<p>

It was late in the afternoon as Sonja sat on her throne being briefed by Rukon and one of her advisors. She paid attention to the matters concerning their continuing struggle against Obsida, but her mind quickly went back to thoughts of Merag.

As Sonja's elderly advisor continued to prattle on about a more mundane matter, a soldier ran into the throne room. "Empress! A knight from a foreign land has come to speak with you. He arrived here on the back of a Pegasus!"

"A what now?" Sonja indifferently asked.

"A winged horse that's well known in some parts of the world." Rukon explained.

"I see." Sonja replied as she perked up a bit. "This does indeed seem to be an interesting development. Send him in."

The soldier nodded and quickly left the room. Walking in a moment later was a young man clad in white armor. He had short silver hair with two small points on top like the ears of a cat.

The knight stepped before the throne and kneeled. "Thank you for granting me this audience, Empress."

"State your name and purpose, knight." Sonja requested.

"I am called Durbe, your majesty." The knight replied. "And I have come here on behalf of the United Lands of the Poseidon Ocean."

"I take it then that you're one of Emperor Nasch's knights." Sonja assumed.

"Actually no, Empress." Durbe replied. "My service is to another kingdom, but I am a good friend of the emperor and his sister. It is because of his sister that I am here."

"I assumed as much." Sonja told him. "You certainly took your sweet time getting here. Though with the blockade set by Obsidia I can see why a representative from the Poseidon Ocean would be delayed."

"Emperor Nasch wishes to know why you have taken his sister captive." Durbe continued. "You are aware that such an action amounts to an act of war."

"If I wished for a war, I would've sent an army to pillage the Poseidon Ocean instead of capturing its princess." Sonja responded. "I did this only so the emperor would agree to negotiate with me."

"Well, you certainly have the Emperor's attention." Durbe admitted. "Just what is it that you wish to negotiate for?"

"An alliance between my empire and the Poseidon Ocean Lands." Sonja answered. "At this point I am willing to release Princess Merag if Emperor Nasch is at least willing to hear me out, but until he actually agrees I will not hand her over."

"I see." Durbe responded. "In that case, it seems I have no choice but to leave and deliver your terms to the Emperor. I will be back in a few days to give you his decision."

"Fine then." Sonja agreed. With that, Durbe calmly walked out of the throne room.

"So, the ruler of the Poseidon Ocean Lands has finally sent someone to hear us out." Sonja's elderly male advisor observed.

"Prince Zahn has refused to let ships from the Poseidon Ocean cross his blockade." Rukon noted. "This might make the Emperor more willing to agree with an alliance with us."

"Let's just hope Merag's brother doesn't prove to be a moronic fool." Sonja remarked.

"Empress, may I be so bold as to suggest something?" the advisor requested.

"Speak, Malikus." Sonja told him.

"Now that an alliance with the Poseidon Ocean may become a reality, it might be wise to take measures to solidify that alliance as best as possible." Malikus began. "I propose that the best way to unite our kingdom with that of the Poseidon Ocean is for you and Emperor Nasch to be married."

"Malikus! You would have the Empress marry someone she has never even met?" Rukon protested. "Such marriages may be acceptable in other kingdoms, but they are beneath our Empress!"

"Hmm… what an interesting notion." Sonja spoke.

"Empress! You're not seriously considering…" Rukon began to ask.

"Relax, Rukon. The last thing I want is to become Emperor Nasch's bride." Sonja assured him. "But Malikus has just given me an idea." With that, Sonja suddenly left the throne room before her two advisors could respond.

* * *

><p>Merag stood out on one of the palace balconies looking out over the ocean. She had come out mostly because she thought she had seen a familiar winged horse pass by, it seemed like her eyes had fooled her. At that moment, Sonja came out to join her.<p>

"Care to share what's on your mind?" Sonja spoke, getting Merag's attention.

"It's nothing. I just thought I saw something familiar." Merag replied.

"I have news for you." Sonja began. "A knight came before me on behalf of your brother. He called himself Durbe."

"So Durbe was here." Merag responded as a large smile came to his face. "Has he left yet?"

"I'm afraid he's already headed back to your homeland to deliver my terms to your brother." Sonja answered. "I'd told him I'd only release you if he agreed to negotiate with me."

"I see…" Merag replied. "I would've protested if I had gotten this news a few weeks sooner, but right now I don't really mind. I've really enjoyed my time here."

"You and I really have grown close during this short time, haven't we?" Sonja observed. "You know… one of my advisors suggested that if an alliance between our two empires is finally forged, the perfect way to solidify it would be for me to marry your brother."

Merag nearly tripped over the side of the balcony in surprised. "Well… that would be a good way to unite our two kingdoms, but I don't think you and my brother would be very suited to each other."

"Trust me, the last thing I want is to become your brother's husband." Sonja told her. "But marriage would indeed be the perfect way to unite our two kingdoms as one."

"I don't understand. If you're not going to marry my brother, then…" Merag began to ask.

Before she could finish though, Sonja pulled her in and gave her a very passionate kiss on the lips. She pulled away after a few moments and Merag felt like the world was spinning.

"Consider that my proposal of marriage." Sonja smirked. "I'll let you think it over."

With that, Sonja left Merag alone. A very flustered Merag stood frozen, trying to process what just happened. She had just had her first kiss, and while she had nothing to compare it to, she was certain that it was the best kiss she had ever had.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> The part where Sonja revealed how she rose to power is the part I felt warranted the rating change of this story. As I went over it a few times in my head, I felt that I really had no choice but to upgrade this story to an M.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	13. Sonja and Merag, Part 2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

><p>Chapter 13: Sonja and Merag, Part 2<p>

Merag had remained standing out on the balcony for almost three hours, her mind still very much on the proposal Sonja had given her. She was very certain that Sonja wasn't joking, or at least hoped very much that she wasn't. For it would've been a very cruel joke if she was. Yet Merag knew for sure that Sonja wasn't the type of person to play a joke like that. But serious or not, Merag was left with the big question of how she should respond. And even before she could figure that out, she had to figure out the even bigger question of how she even felt about Sonja.

It wasn't that Merag was opposed to the idea of becoming romantically involved with Sonja. After, such romantic pairings were not uncommon in her homeland. Even so, she had never explored the idea that she might be interested in other women. She did find Sonja attractive though, as she was sure many did. And that passionate kiss Sonja had given her was still very much on her thoughts. She could still taste the kiss on her lips.

The other thing Merag had to admit was that she was drawn very much to Sonja like she had never been drawn to by anyone else. She was very kind, despite having the reputation of a ruthless conqueror. And when Sonja wasn't around, Merag found that she felt a bit lonely. Before, the blue-haired princess had attributed that loneliness to being away from home. But now she began to wonder if it wasn't due to something else.

Merag suddenly noticed that the sun was starting to set. She decided to go back to her room to ponder her current situation. The one thing she was certain of was that she probably wasn't going to be getting much sleep that night.

* * *

><p>It was morning as Sonja sat in her throne while being briefed by Rukon and Malikus on affairs of state. She was only half paying attention as they talked though. Her mind was still very much on Merag. Her captive princess had not come to dinner the night before. It seemed like Merag was avoiding her, but then Sonja had to admit that she had give Merag a lot to think about. Merag needed time to figure things out, and when she was ready she would give Sonja the answer that was best for her. Sonja was prepared to accept whatever answer Merag might give her, but at the same time was very afraid that Merag might not share her feelings.<p>

"Empress?" Malikus spoke, getting Sonja's attention. "Are you listening?"

"Sorry, my mind drifted for a moment." Sonja responded. "What did you just say?"

"I was simply wondering if you had given any thought to the suggestion I made yesterday about how to solidify our possible alliance with the Poseidon Ocean Lands." Malikus explained.

"Oh, that. You had an interesting idea, Malikus." Sonja admitted. "So yesterday I gave my own proposal of marriage to Merag. If she accepts, she will become my queen and our two empires will be united."

Malikus's eyes widened in surprise to what Sonja had just told him. Rukon raised an eyebrow in response, but hardly seemed shocked.

"Is there a problem?" Sonja asked.

"Well it's… it's highly irregular, Empress." Malikus replied. "While it is your affair, I should point out to you and the princess are both young women, and…"

"Finish that sentence, old man and I shall cut out your tongue and throw you in the dungeon for whatever remains of your life!" Sonja warned.

Malikus went pale and gulped. "Yes, Empress."

"What about you, Rukon?" Sonja asked a little more calmly. "Do you wish to voice any objections?"

"It is not at all my place, Empress." Rukon replied. "Whoever you intend to marry is your decision alone."

Before Sonja could respond, a soldier ran into the throne room. "Empress! I bring grave news from our spy in Obsidia! Prince Zahn shall be bringing an armada with him to invade the capital in two days time!"

"You're certain of this?" Rukon asked.

"Yes, General." The solider replied. "And our reinforcements have yet to break through the blockade."

"This will not at all be an easy battle." Rukon spoke. "Empress, we should begin preparing our defense."

"Very well." Sonja agreed. "It's time we settle things with Obsidia once and for all."

* * *

><p>Two days had gone by, and the castle had been bustling with activity in preparation for Prince Zahn's attack. During that whole time though, Merag's mind had still been on what sort of answer to give Sonja. And at last it seemed that she had finally figured out what to tell her. Merag entered the throne room to find Sonja going over battle plans with Rukon. Merag had heard that the battle with Zahn's armada was already underway, but she just had to talk to Sonja.<p>

"Sonja?" Merag spoke, getting the dark-haired empress's attention. "Can you spare me a moment?"

Sonja gave Rukon a look, causing the one-eyed general to nod and silently leave the room. It seemed that they were completely alone in the room, which Merag found made her a little nervous.

"I'm afraid I don't have much time to talk." Sonja told her. "So what is it?"

"Well…" Merag nervously began. Her heart was pounding so hard she was afraid it would burst from her chest. "I… I still owe you an answer to your proposal."

"And?" Sonja asked.

Taking a big gulp, Merag went over and standing on her toes planted a firm kiss on Sonja's lips as she wrapped her arms around her neck. After a moment they broke the kiss and Sonja was left blinking in total surprise.

"Yes, I will marry you." Merag smiled.

Smirking, Sonja pulled Merag into another deep kiss and dipped her backward. The empress even inserted her tongue into Merag's mouth. After a moment they were forced to break for air, and Merag's head was left spinning.

At that particular moment, a soldier calmly walked into the throne room. "Empres, the knight, Durbe has returned and has requested an audience."

Sonja sighed heavily. "He would have to come now. Very well, send him in."

The soldier saluted and promptly left the room. A moment later, Durbe walked in clad in his white armor. Durbe quickly noticed Merag and approached.

"Princess! Are you okay?" the knight asked.

Merag finally came back down to earth and noticed him. "Durbe? How long have you been here?"

"I only just got here." Durbe answered. "Are you all right?"

"State your business, knight." Sonja ordered.

"Emperor Nasch has agreed to open negotiations with you, but only if you release the Princess immediately." Durbe told her.

Before Sonja or Merag could respond, the soldier from earlier ran back into the throne room. "Grave news, Empress! Prince Zahn's flagship broke through the line and has come ashore. He and several of his men are heading towards the castle as we speak!"

"Prince Zahn?" a surprised Durbe spoke.

"It seems your timing couldn't be worse knight." Sonja told him. She then turned to Merag. "It would probably be much safer for you if you returned to your homeland."

"But… I can't just leave you like this." Merag told her.

"I'll be fine." Sonja assured her. "I'll come see you when this is all over. I promise. Right now I need you to be safe."

"…Okay." Merag finally agreed. "Just be careful."

Sonja nodded and turned back to Durbe. "Alright, knight. You have a deal. Tell Emperor Nasch to expect me in a few days."

"Very well." Durbe replied. "Let's go, Princess."

After a moment of hesitation, Merag followed Durbe out of the room. Sonja kept her eyes on Merag until she was gone. Afterwards she sighed and turned attention to the invasion force that was approaching her castle.

"Empress! What shall we do about Prince Zahn?" the soldier asked.

"Prepare my horse." Sonja ordered. "I'm going to deal with Prince Zahn myself."

* * *

><p>Sonja and Rukon waited out on the streets with several soldiers, creating a wall to block the invading force from the castle. In moments they saw several soldiers clad in black approaching them. At the head of the invasion force was a young man with long dark-brown hair clad in black and silver armor. He had on a grey cape, and around his neck was an odd silver pendant. Sonja quickly deduced that this young man was the infamous Prince Zahn. Zahn stopped a few feet before Sonja and signaled his men to halt.<p>

"So, you are the slave child empress that's been the thorn in my family's side." Zahn spoke. "This day I shall finally kill you, and by doing so I shall avenge the murder of my uncle Cachous and take back this island and all you've stolen from my family!"

"Wrong! This day I shall be the one to kill you and begin tearing your kingdom to pieces!" Sonja declared.

"You certainly are sure of yourself, but fate is on my side." Zahn told her. "This land will be mine again before the setting of the sun."

"In case you haven't noticed, your forces are outnumbered, Black Diamond!" Sonja pointed out. "My forces will grind yours into the dust!"

"Numbers are not everything, Sonja." Zahn replied with a confident smirk. "In the end, battles are won by power. And I have a power slumbering on this island. A power that has resided beneath the palace you stole from my family. Now the time has come to awaken that power and give you the death you so richly deserve!"

With that, Zahn's pendant suddenly began to give off a strange blue light. The sky overhead became covered in thick black clouds. Out of the corner of her eye, Sonja saw a white Pegasus fly off into the distance with two passengers on its back. Sonja was a little relieved to know that Merag was now out of danger, but it seemed like the battle she was about to fight was going to be much harder to win than she thought.

"Arise and serve me, Dragon of the Black Comet!" Zahn called out.

A beam of blue light suddenly shot from the foundation of the castle and curved towards Zahn. The end of the beam exploded upon reaching its destination, and after a moment the light faded to reveal a large bipedal black and silver dragon. It had four blade-like wings and a row of blade-like spines ran down the length of its back all the way down its tail. The tip of the dragon's tail had a crystal blade like an axe. On the back of its head was a pointed crystal shard like a horn, with two more curved crystal horns on the sides of its head. At the sides of its mouth were two sets of three small white tusks. The dragon had a somewhat portly physique, and on its shoulders were two large crystal spikes. Two large crystal plates almost like shields covered its forearms, and on its chest was a small red diamond.

Many of Sonja's soldiers began to tremble at the sight of the dragon. Even Sonja and Rukon were unsettled by the creature's arrival.

"Yes! Go ahead and tremble in fear!" Zahn laughed. "For the beast I have summoned shall be the instrument of your destruction!"

The dragon let out another roar, and suddenly the mark on Cleo's stomach began to glow. Another roar pierced the air, causing everyone to look up. Descending from the sky above was an extremely large serpentine dragon made out of crimson light. The Crimson Dragon flew down to hover above Sonja and her men to oppose the Black Comet Dragon.

"What… what is this?" a shocked Zahn demanded to know.

"Two dragons?" one of Sonja's soldiers spoke. "There's no way any of us can survive this fight!"

"Do not fear the Crimson Dragon!" Sonja ordered her men. "It is on our side!"

"How do you know, Empress?" Rukon asked.

"Don't ask me how I know, because I can't give you an answer." Sonja told him. "Just focus on Zahn and his men! Our new ally shall handle Zahn's beast!"

"I don't know what sorcery you've used here, but you shall not prevail!" Zahn proclaimed. "Attack, my dragon! Burn them all to cinders!"

Black Comet Dragon let out a roar and shot several bolts of energy from the large spikes on its shoulders. Several of Sonja's soldiers were burned to ash in an instant. The Crimson Dragon retaliated by firing a beam of red light from its jaws, knocking the smaller black dragon back several feet. At the same time, Sonja's remaining soldiers charged at Zahn's troops. The battle had been joined.

* * *

><p>Merag continued to look back as Durbe's Pegasus flew further away from the island. She couldn't help but worry as she saw the two dragons fighting in the distance. It seemed like the battle couldn't end in any other way but tragedy.<p>

"I'm sure Empress Sonja will be fine." Durbe told Merag. "She's a skilled warrior."

"Yes, but… those dragons." Merag pointed out.

"Those two dragons showing up is troubling, but there's nothing we can do about them." Durbe pointed out. "All we can do is hope for the best."

"I'm not sure if I can." Merag told him. "I can't shake the feeling that I'm never going to see Sonja again."

* * *

><p>The battle continued to rage with the Crimson Dragon and Black Comet Dragon trading blows with either one really gaining the upper hand. Meanwhile, the two opposing groups of soldiers seemed to be equally matched as the fought tooth and nail to destroy each other. Sonja and Zahn had already begun to fight each other one-on-one. Zahn was using a sword while Sonja swung at him with a light double-bladed axe. Sonja swung her blade repeatedly at Zahn, with the dark prince continuing to move back to evade the attacks.<p>

Suddenly Sonja heard Rukon cry out. She turned to see him fall to his knees with a sword blade sticking out through his chest. Sonja called out Rukon's name, only to feel something pierce her through the stomach a moment later. She looked and saw that Zahn had stabbed her. A triumphant grin was on the evil prince's face.

"This is what you get for taking your attention away from your opponent." Zahn told her. "Take this lesson to your grave."

In a fit of rage, Sonja used her remaining strength to swing her axe and pierce Zahn deep in his left side. An expression of shock appeared on Zahn's face as he realized he was just wounded.

"This is what you get… for being overconfident." Sonja told him with a small smirk. "If I am going to die this day… then I'll at least have the satisfaction of taking you with me."

At the same time, Black Comet Dragon shot an intense black of energy from the two spikes on his shoulders. The Crimson Dragon fired another blast from his mouth that hit the attack head on, causing a massive explosion of blinding light.

* * *

><p>Merag and Durbe paused their flight through the sky as they saw the explosion on this island. As the light from the explosion began to fade, the Crimson Dragon quickly took off back into the sky and quickly faded from view.<p>

"What… what happened?" a shocked and horrified Merag asked.

"I have no idea." Durbe answered. "But I think it's doubtful that Empress Sonja survived."

Merag's heart sunk when Durbe spoke those words. She had only just found the person she loved most only to have her ripped away from her. It simply wasn't fair at all.

"It looks like we no longer have to worry about your bother having to negotiate with Scarnova." Durbe continued. "Are you okay, Princess?"

"Yes… I'm fine." Merag calmly told him. "Let's just go."

With that, they continued to fly towards Merag's homeland in silence. It was taking all Merag had not to break down into a sobbing mess.

* * *

><p>The light from the explosion of the clashing Red Nova and Ragnazero faded and Rio found herself back on the battlefield where she had just dueled Cleo. Several floating screens that were flashing the word, error had appeared around the battlefield. Red Nova and Ragnazero seemed like they had turned to stone, still frozen in battle. After a moment the now fossilized remains of the monsters shattered along with the floating screens and the surrounding area returned to normal. The duel had ended without a result.<p>

Rio remembered everything. Not just about her duel with Cleo, but the memories of her past life when she had first met Cleo. Back when she was Sonja. She saw Cleo a few feet away on one knee, catching her breath.

"Sonja… Cleo!" Rio called as she quickly ran over. She got down on her knees so that they were at eye level. "Are you okay?"

"I'm… I'm fine." Cleo told her. "Just a little worn out. Are you okay?"

Rio was on the verge of tears. She responded by leaning in and giving Cleo a deep kiss on the lips. After a moment she pulled away and Cleo's eyes were wide with surprise.

"I… I love you, Cleo." Rio told her.

"Rio, I…" Cleo began to say, only to suddenly collapse and lose consciousness.

"Cleo… Cleo!" Rio cried out as she tried to shake her awake.

"Rio, calm down!" Iris cut in as she ran over. "I'm sure she's fine! She's probably just exhausted."

"Damn!" Dante cursed, getting their attention. "This was not what I had in mind at all."

"You bastard!" Rio cursed. "I'll never forgive you for what you've done!"

"I'd love to stay and chat, Merag. But I've got other things to do." Dante told her. "Ta."

With that, Dante grasped his pendant and a blinding blue light enveloped the area. The light faded after a few seconds and Dante was nowhere to be seen.

"He's gone." Iris observed.

"Never mind that." Rio told her. "Right now we have to get Cleo back to camp."

Suddenly the two of them heard footsteps coming towards them, causing them to look. Coming into view was a slightly short woman with long black hair. She had on glasses with red oval-shaped frames and a tan t-shirt with a black vest and shorts.

"Oh god, Cleo!" the woman called as she ran over. The woman got down on her knee and felt Cleo's forehead. "Well, it seems like she's okay. But I knew I should've gotten here sooner."

"Who are you?" Iris asked.

"Oh, excuse me. I'm Cleo's mom, Carly Atlas." The woman answered. "I'm here to help."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> This chapter ended up being a tad shorter than I thought it was going to be. I still think I mad the right call making the flashback a two-parter though. Otherwise I would've had a chapter around 8,000 words long, and that would been a really long chapter to write.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	14. After the Ordeal

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

><p>Chapter 14: After the Ordeal<p>

As Cleo gently began to wake up, she found that she was cuddled up next to something soft and pleasantly warm. Whatever it was had a very pleasant and familiar scent. Cleo was very content to just stay like she was and fall back asleep, but suddenly she felt whatever was cuddled up next to her move slightly. Accompanying the movement was a soft groan in a very familiar voice. Slowly Cleo opened her eyes and saw Rio's face just inches away from her own.

Immediately, Cleo shot up in the bed she found herself in. Her face had turned bright red and her heart was pounding like a jackhammer. She tried to figure out just how she had wound up in bed with Rio, but it was hard to do with the still newly awakened memories of her past life swirling around in her head. Cleo remembered the duel she was forced to have with Rio. Then after the awakening of her ancient memories she remembered Rio kissing her and telling her that she loved her, but she wasn't sure if that part simply wasn't just a dream.

Cleo decided to put aside trying to figure out what happened after the duel for the moment to figure out just where she was. The bed that she and Rio shared was in a fairly small room with wood paneling covering the lower half of the white walls. After a moment, Cleo recognized the place as the kind of room one might find on a small but high-priced boat. Though the fact that she was on such a boat raised a few more questions than it answered. Before Cleo could begin to ponder those questions though, Rio suddenly awoke and sat up. As Cleo watched Rio rub the sleep from her eyes, she couldn't help but notice how cute she was.

"Oh good! You're awake." Rio spoke. "I was so worried about you."

"What happened?" Cleo asked.

"You passed out after that duel." Rio explained. "Your mom suddenly showed up after it happened and we brought you here. Thomas and the others are aboard the boat too."

"So… did you pass out or something too?" Cleo asked, wondering why they were sharing the same bed.

"Oh… well, I wanted to stay close to you until you woke up." Rio explained as a blush formed on her face. "But since you're awake now, I guess I should leave. I'm probably the last person you want to be around right now."

"Rio, wait." Cleo spoke as she grabbed the bluenette by the wrist. "Why would you even think that I wouldn't want you around me?"

"Because of the way I've been treating you on this trip." Rio answered. "And that duel we just had."

"That duel wasn't your fault." Cleo pointed out. "And I deserved to be treated like I was by you. I've been acting like a real fool lately."

"Still…" Rio began.

"Rio, did you mean it when you said that you love me after that duel?" Cleo asked.

"…Of course I did." Rio told her. "I love you just as much as I did in our lives from before."

Cleo smiled and pulled her close. "And I love you, and there's nowhere else I'd rather have you than right here by my side."

Rio gave Cleo a tearful smile. Cleo smiled back, and before they knew it they were locked in another passionate kiss. As the kiss deepened, Cleo inserted her tongue into Rio's mouth, causing the younger girl to moan. Their tongues moved against one another for several moments before their lungs cried out for air. Once they broke the kiss though, Cleo moved in and began to suck on Rio's neck. At the same time, her left hand clutched Rio's chest and began to grope her breast, causing Rio to moan with delight.

At that particular moment, Carly walked into the room. "Oh good! You're finally up."

Cleo and Rio instantly froze upon hearing Carly's voice. The two of them were mortified to find the reporter standing in the room, yet were also somewhat grateful that she had not barged in a few moments later.

"Mother! What the hell are you doing here?" Cleo asked in a shrill loud whisper.

"Well I've just been worried about you these last few days." Carly explained as she walked over to the bed. "Your father sensed that Red Nova had awakened again, so I decided to come to Obsidian City to check on you. Of course I had to rent this boat to get to the island, but that was no big deal."

"Well I'm clearly okay." Cleo told her through gritted teeth. "So would you mind…?"

"Oh! You'll never guess who's here with me!" Carly continued before Cleo could finish her request. "Come on in, Robin!"

Entering the room was a girl with looked to be about twelve years old. She had long black hair with a few prominent orange streaks in it and iron-grey eyes. The girl had on a light-green shirt with a black leather jacket and a short pink skirt. Cleo instantly recognized the girl as her younger cousin, Robin Hogan.

"Hi Cleo!" Robin greeted in a cheerful manner. "Long time, huh?"

"What are you doing here, squirt?" Cleo asked.

"Well I'm here kind of for the same reason as Aunt Carly." Robin explained. "I sensed Red Nova's awakening too, so I came with in case you or Aunt Carly needed help. Looks like it's a good thing I came, too. There's some kind of weird power on this island."

"Uh, Mrs. Atlas?" Rio interrupted. "Could you and Robin please leave?"

"Oh, sure. No problem." Carly told her. "We'll let you and my daughter get some rest now. We can talk more about this later."

With that, Robin and Carly left the room, causing Cleo and Rio to breath a sigh of relief. A split second later though, Carly popped back into the room.

"By the way, Cleo. Did you and I ever have 'the talk'?" Carly asked.

"Mother! Leave!" Cleo ordered.

"Okay, okay. I'll go." Carly told them. "Just try and keep the noise down if you and Rio get real intimate."

After that, Carly finally left the room. Rio and Cleo collapsed back onto the bed. The mood had totally been killed.

"Well… at least your mother seems accepting of our relationship." Rio noted.

"I swear to god she's going to drive me insane one of these days." Cleo declared.

"…Hey Cleo? I think there's some other things you should know about me." Rio told her. "I had another life between my past life as a princess and the one I have now… and I'm not sure you're going to like some of the things I did then."

* * *

><p>Carly and Robin emerged on the deck of the boat they were on to find Iris, Michal and Thomas waiting for them along with Alyssa, Byron and Dr. Faker. The sun had set completely and a bright crescent moon hung in the sky.<p>

"How are Rio and Cleo?" Michael asked.

"Cleo's awake." Carly answered. "She and my future daughter in law both seem to be doing fine."

"Do you have to call Rio that?" an irritated Thomas asked.

"And just what's wrong with my daughter?" an offended Carly asked.

"Chill, Aunt Carly." Robin told her. "Right now I think we should probably focus on this whole thing with Cleo's past life."

"So Cleo really is the reincarnation of the Scarlet Empress?" Michael asked.

"Definitely." Robin confirmed. "The fact that the Crimson Dragon's seal is on Sonja's statue is proof."

"So does that mean that Cleo was originally a priestess of the Crimson Dragon like you are?" Carly asked her niece.

"No, in her past life Cleo was something much different." Robin answered. "Normally, the Crimson Dragon chooses five humans to bare his mark and become Signers. And occasionally he'll also choose a priestess to act as a conduit like me and before me, my mom. That priestess bares the Crimson Dragon's seal on her back. But my mom once told me that once every hundred generations, the Crimson Dragon would choose a single Signer to bare his full mark. That Signer is known as a Legendary Signer, and is said to possess incredible power."

"That's all fascinating, but if Cleo's the reincarnation of Sonja, does that mean that Dante is also the reincarnation of Zahn the Black Diamond?" Faker asked.

"I wouldn't be surprised." Robin answered. "This probably all has something to do with some unfinished destiny."

"So wait, you're saying my brother's not crazy?" Alyssa asked.

"Oh he's crazy alright." Robin told her. "His insanity just happens to be based in reality."

"That makes me feel a hell of a lot better." Alyssa sarcastically replied.

"So Dante obviously wants revenge on Cleo for whatever happened in their past lives." Michael observed. "But what else is he after?"

"It's obviously what he has Kazuma looking for in the ruins of that castle." Byron assumed. "But we have no idea what that is."

"Maybe we do." Iris spoke. "Remember after Cleo dueled Dante back at his mansion? He said he was after something that would help him make a card that was stronger than Black Dragon Archfiend. And earlier when Cleo summoned Red Nova Dragon, Dante said something about her getting the power he was after before he could get to it. What if Dante is trying to make a card that's the evolved form of Black Dragon Archfiend?"

"Wait! Back up." Carly spoke. "_Black_ Dragon Archfiend?"

"Maybe you guys should tell us more about this dragon of Dante's." Robin suggested.

* * *

><p>Brimstone and Splicer walked through the forest and eventually found Dante in the place they had agreed to meet. The brown-haired card creator had a scowl on his face, indicating to the duo that he was not in a good mood.<p>

"So what's up, boss?" Brimstone asked as they approached. "Things not going too good?"

"Hardly." Dante told them. "The duel I arranged between Cleo and Rio went miserably."

"So what do you want us to do now?" Splicer asked.

Before Dante could answer, his D-Gazer began to ring. Irritated, he put the device on to answer it. "Yes?"

_"Did I catch you at a bad time, Dante?"_ Kazuma asked on the other end.

"Oh. Mr. Tsukumo. Forgive my curtness just now." Dante replied. "Did you find something?"

_"I believe so."_ Kazuma answered. _"I think it's the thing we came here for. If you want, I can show it to you now."_

"Marvelous!" Dante replied with a grin. "I'll meet you outside the castle shortly." He then put his D-Gazer away and turned his attention back to Splicer and Brimstone. "Well gentlemen, it seems that things have taken a wonderful turn. In the meantime, I'd like for you both to go find Cleo and eliminate her for me. There will of course be a bonus in it for you."

"Sure thing." Brimstone replied. "I was just thinking that we should put an end to this."

* * *

><p>Cleo had been listening closely as Rio told her about her other past life as Merag of the Seven Barian Emperors. She told her about how she and her fellow emperors almost destroyed the Earth and Astral World in the name of their own. And about how at the end of it all they died only to be brought back as humans.<p>

"…So now you know." Rio finished as she wrapped up her tale. "I hope you don't think less of me now that you know what I was."

"I could never think less of you." Cleo told her. "Though I do want to kill this Vector and Don Thousand."

"Don Thousand is gone." Rio told her. "And Vector… well he's not as bad as he was. But I will understand if you try to kill him. Still, even if I was used it doesn't change the things I've done."

"Rio, what happened back then is in the past." Cleo told her. "The only thing I care about is now, and right now you and I are together again. That's what's important."

Rio smiled and moved in to give Cleo another firm kiss. The kiss soon deepened and their tongues began to battle for dominance. They suddenly no longer cared about the possibility of Carly suddenly barging in on them again. They shifted on the bed so that Rio was on top. When they broke for air again, Rio sat up and took off the powder blue t-shirt she was wearing, revealing her white bra underneath. Just as she was about to undo her bra though, the whole ship seemed to shake as if it had been hit by something.

"Dammit! Now what?" an irritated Cleo asked.

Rio quickly put her shirt back on and the two ran out of the room to see what was happening. When they joined the others on deck, the couple saw Splicer and Brimstone on shore. One of Brimstone's raptors shot at the ship with a fireball from its mouth.

"Those two are back?" Rio realized.

"Hey! Will the daughter of Jack Atlas please come out?" Brimstone called. "We'd like to kill her!"

"Over my dead body!" Carly protested.

"Mother, calm down." Cleo told her. "If they want to fight me, then I'll take them on. It's about time we got rid of these idiots anyway."

"I'm going with you." Rio told her. "I'm not just going to stand by and let you fight alone like before."

Cleo smirked. "I'm guessing there's no point in arguing with you, is there? Okay then. We'll face them together."

With that, Cleo and Rio got off the boat and headed towards Brimstone and Splicer. The rest of the group simply watched and waited from the boat.

"Nice of you not to keep us waiting." Brimstone told Cleo.

"Why's the ice princess here?" Splicer asked.

"Rio and I are going to take you on together!" Cleo told them. "Prepare to be crushed!"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> I had debated with myself many times about whether or not to include a "love scene" between Cleo and Rio in this chapter. Hence my questioning about whether or not to change the rating of this story. In the end I decided to have them get to that point, only to have them interrupted by something.

As for Robin, I think there's something I should explain about her for those who are unfamiliar with my _5D's Alternative_ trilogy. As some of you reading may have figured out, Robin is the young daughter of 5D's character, Crow Hogan. And her mother is an OC named Raven that I borrowed from a friend for the _5D's Alternative_ trilogy. Raven has the full seal of the Crimson Dragon on her back, and in the trilogy acts as a sort of "priestess" in the story. As I implied in the chapter, Robin acts as the priestess for the second generation Signers. She'll be more involved in the _5D's Alternative_ sequel that I'll eventually do, but for now she's in a supporting role.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	15. The Fossil Duo

**Author's Note:** Ideally, I would've had this chapter up yesterday. But as it turned, this one assignment I had to do for my online class turned out to be a lot longer and harder than I thought it'd be. The good news though is that it doesn't look like I have a lot of work I have to do for the class next week. So barring any unforeseen complication, I should be able to get this story wrapped up by next Monday or Tuesday. There isn't that much longer to go.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

><p>Chapter 15: The Fossil Duo<p>

"So both of you wanna take us on, huh?" Brimstone asked Cleo and Rio. "Fine by me. Saves me and Splicer the trouble of having to flip a coin to see who kills ya."

"Hey, I would've let you be the one to take her out." Splicer told him. "But since this is a tag duel now, I'll be sure to do my part."

"Let's just get this over with!" Cleo told them.

With that, the four duelists activated their duel disks and prepared to face off. Everyone activated their D-Gazers and the color of the surrounding area changed.

"I'll start this off!" Rio announced as she drew her first card. "I set one card on the field! Then I summon Aurora Wing in Defense Mode!" Rio's majestic blue and green-winged snowbird appeared on the battlefield. "That ends my turn."

"You were pretty fast to take the first turn there, ice princess." Splicer remarked as he drew his first card. "But whatever. Only one of us is going to get to attack in the first round anyway. I summon Evolsaur Petla in Defense Mode and end my turn!" Splicer's green four-legged dinosaur materialized on the field.

Cleo drew her first card. "I summon Archfiend Cavalry in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on the battlefield was a demonic knight riding the back of a dark-blue horse with a white mane and glowing blue eyes. The knight had a white skull with glowing red eyes for a face, and he was clad almost completely in red and purple armor. In his left hand he carried a long white skeletal lance. The horse that the demon knight rode also wore brown armor that was slightly similar to the armor of his rider.

"I end my turn there." Cleo announced.

Brimstone drew his first card with a mad grin. "This is gonna be fun."

* * *

><p>Dante arrived at the front of the ruined castle to find Kazuma waiting for him in front of the entrance. On Dante's back was a large black backpack.<p>

"I came as quickly as I could." Dante told Kazuma. "So, did you really find the tablet?"

"It took me all day to search the castle. It's full of all sorts of secret passages." Kazuma reported. "But I think I've found what it is. Follow me."

Dante followed closely as Kazuma led him into the ancient building. The adventurer handed Dante a let torch from the wall before taking one of his own. Within a few minutes, Kazuma brought Dante to the end of a hallway that seemed to lead to a dead end. As soon as Kazuma pushed in a brick in the center of the wall, it suddenly opened up to reveal a staircase that went deep underground.

"I'll say one thing about this Scarlet Empress. She sure seemed to have a thing for secret passages." Kazuma remarked as they headed down. "I found at least five other passageways like this one during me search."

"Actually, Sonja stole this castle from a member of the royal family of Obsidia." Dante revealed. "I doubt that she or any of her servants even knew these passageways existed."

The two of them continued to go downward for several moments before finally arriving inside a large stone chamber. The only thing that was inside was a large tablet that seemed to be made out of blue crystal. Carved onto the front of the crystal was the image of a dragon with two large spikes on its shoulders. Dante's pendant suddenly began to give off a dim blue light, causing the tablet to glow as well.

"At long last, I've found it." Dante spoke with a grin as he walked up to the tablet. "The lost family treasure of the Obsidia royal family."

With that, Dante removed his pack and removed a somewhat large mechanical device from it. Along with the device he pulled out a pair of metal gloves.

"What's that thing?" Kazuma asked.

"A portable card creator similar to the one Maximillion Pegasus used to create the fabled Rainbow Dragon card." Dante explained as he put on his D-Gazer. "Of course this modern version is a little more streamlined and the controls are wireless."

"So you're going to make the card based on the tablet right here." Kazuma observed.

"It will save us the trouble of having to hull the tablet out of the castle." Dante pointed out. "Now, you are about to bare witness to the creation of perhaps the most powerful card in all of Duel Monsters."

With that, Dante switched the device on and put on the metal gloves. Turning towards the tablet, he began to move his hands as if he was painting something. Meanwhile the whole time, Kazuma couldn't help but have a bad feeling about the card Dante was about to create.

* * *

><p>"First off, I think this duel needs a little change of venue." Brimstone decided. "I play the Field Spell, Molten Destruction!"<p>

In an instant the surrounding area completely transformed into a vast wasteland filled with molten volcanoes. Thick clouds of ash and soot tinted red by the glowing hot lava covered the sky. The boat that the others were watching the duel from was now floating in a large pool of lava that had formed at the base of one of the nearby volcanoes.

"While this card's in play, all Fire monsters on the field get a 500 point ATK boost while losing 400 DEF." Brimstone continued.

"This isn't good." A concerned Michael declared. "Practically all of Brimstone and Splicer's monsters are of the Fire attribute. This is going to give those two a huge advantage."

"Wait, did you say those two are called Brimstone and Splicer?" Carly asked.

"Yeah, they're a pair of psychic duelists that Dante hired to capture Rio." Michael answered.

"Do you know something about these two, Mrs. Atlas?" Byron asked.

"A while back I heard this story about a supposed pair of psychic duelists who completely destroyed an entire town." Carly explained. "There was nothing left of it but a pile of smoldering rubble. The few people who survived said that the duelists called themselves Brimstone and Splicer."

"They really destroyed a whole town?" a shocked Iris asked.

"Cleo… please be careful." A very worried Carly spoke.

"I summon Jurrac Protops in Attack Mode!" Brimstone announced.

Appearing on Brimstone and Splicer's side of the battlefield was a blue and orange triceratops-like dinosaur that lacked horns. Burning along the length of its back was a bright orange flame.

"Not only does Protops get a 500 point boost from Molten Destruction, he also gains 100 extra ATK for every monster on my opponent's field." Brimstone revealed. "That makes his ATK 2400, 500 points stronger than that demon horseman of yours."

"If you're so confident you can beat my monster, that go ahead and attack." Cleo dared.

"Gladly!" Brimstone replied. "Protops! Run Archfiend Cavalry into the ground! Flaming Stampede!"

Protops roared and his whole body suddenly became covered in flames. He began to charge at Cleo's monster like a burning runaway train.

"I activate my face-down card, Shrink!" Rio quickly announced. "This card will cut the ATK of your Protops in half!"

As Protops came in range of his target he suddenly shrank to half his normal size. The demon knight's horse rose up on his hind legs and brought his front hooves down hard on the little dinosaur. Protops shattered apart and Splicer and Brimstone's life points dropped to 7300.

"You simple-minded buffoon." Cleo told Brimstone. "Did you really think I would just leave my monster in Attack Mode like that if Rio didn't have a good defense?"

"Damn. They lured us, and you took the bait." Splicer observed.

"Shut up!" Brimstone shot back.

"Easy, bro. It's still just the first round." Splicer pointed out. "These two will get what's coming to them."

"They better." Brimstone responded. "I end my turn!"

Rio drew her next card. "Since I have a Water monster on my side of the field, I can special summon Penguin Commando!"

Materializing on the battlefield was a five-foot tall penguin wearing an ice-blue tank top with a light-blue army helmet with a camouflage pattern. Wrapped around his torso over his shirt was a pair of ammo belts, and hanging from his neck was a set of dog tags. The bird had a long scar over his right eye, and with his right wing he carried a long blue bazooka.

"Next I summon Blizzard Falcon in Attack Mode!" Rio announced. Her blue falcon of ice appeared on the field next to Penguin Commando. "Now I activate Penguin Commando's effect! Once per turn I can raise the level of one Water monster I control by one. So I raise the level of Aurora Wing from four to five!"

Penguin Commando squawked and shot a round from his weapon into the air. A moment later, Aurora Wing began to glow with a blue aura.

"I overlay my level five Penguin Commando and Aurora Wing to Xyz Summon Ice Princess Zereort!" Rio announced.

A swirling blue vortex appeared in the middle of the battlefield and pulled the two arctic birds in as balls of blue energy. Rising out of the middle of the vortex a moment later was a blue humanoid figure with four large blade-like ice blue wings on her back. She had long legs and panels of ice blue armor around her waist. Her two top wings each had two long golden spike projecting outward from the bottom, and in her right hand she carried a thin metal rod with a large golden spike at the top. Orbiting around the new monster were two balls made of blue light.

"Next I use my level four Blizzard Falcon and Cleo's level four Archfiend Cavalry to build the overlay network and Xyz Summon my strongest monster!" Rio announced. "Arise, Number 103: Ragnazero!"

Another large vortex in the form of a swirling galaxy appeared in the center of the battlefield and pulled Cleo and Rio's two monsters in as balls of blue energy. Rising out of the center a moment later was Rio's sword-wielding ice maiden. The number 103 glowed brightly on her bladed hair ornament.

"I activate Ice Princess Zereort's effect!" Rio announced. "Once per turn by detaching an overlay unit, Zereort can make the ATK of one monster my opponent controls zero! And of course I'm choosing the only monster on your field right now, Evolsaur Pelta!"

One of the balls of light orbiting Zereort went into the spike at the top of her weapon. The snowbird woman swung her staff at Pelta, covering the dinosaur in a thick layer of frost.

"Uh, in case you haven't noticed ice princess, my monster's in Defense Mode." Splicer reminded her. "Lowering its ATK isn't going to do you any good."

"I activate Ragnazero's effect!" Rio announced. "Since the ATK of one of your monsters was lowered, I can detach an overlay unit from Ragnazero to destroy it and draw one card!"

One of the balls of blue light orbiting around Ragnazero entered the guard of the sword in her right hand. Ragnazero swung the blade at Pelta, hitting the dinosaur was an icy wind. In an instant, Pelta was frozen solid and shattered apart.

"What the hell?" Splicer exclaimed.

"Zereort, attack Splicer directly!" Rio commanded. "Icicle Fury!"

Zereort flew in close and swung her weapon at Splicer. A barrage of icicles struck the visor-wearing duelist, and a freezing cold passed through his entire body. Splicer and Brimstone's life points took a deep plunge to 4800.

"Ragnazero, attack Brimstone directly!" Rio ordered. "Dance of Frozen Death!"

Ragnazero moved in and twirled around before slashing Brimstone in the chest with one of her ice swords. The masked duelist fell to one knee as a freezing cold passed through him. Splicer and Brimstone's life points fell even further to 2400.

"Alight!" Iris cheered from the boat. "One more attack, and those two have had it!"

"Yeah, but it all depends on what Splicer does on his next turn." Thomas darkly pointed out. "He could still turn this whole thing around."

"You damn ice bitch!" Brimstone cursed as he got back to his feet. "Before this duel's over, I'm gonna tear your freaking head off and shove it up your ass!"

"I'll rip out your tongue for those words, Brimstone!" Cleo shot back.

"Easy, everyone!" Splicer cut in. "I'm afraid you're gonna have to wait in line to tear our little ice princess a new one, Brimstone. Because I'm gonna do it first!"

"I end my turn." Rio calmly announced.

Splicer drew his next card. "I think it's time you got a taste of your own medicine, Princess. I activate the Spell card, Shrink and use it to cut Zereort's ATK in half!" In an instant, Zereort shrank down to half her normal size. "Next I summon Evoltile Casinerio in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on the field was a long blue and purple lizard with short underdeveloped legs. Its red transparent tail contained a green and red strand of DNA.

"Thanks to Molten destruction, Casinerio's ATK becomes 2200." Splicer continued. "That's more than enough to take out your tiny Xyz Monster. Casinerio, take out Zereort! Serpent Flare!"

The snake-like lizard opened its mouth and shot a small fireball at Zereort. The snowbird princess shattered apart upon being hit in the chest, and Cleo and Rio's life points dropped to 7150.

"I'm ending my Battle Phase, which means now I can activate Casinerio's effect!" Splicer announced. "Since Casinerio destroyed a monster in battle, I can sacrifice him to summon two level six or lower Dinosaur monsters with the same name from my deck. So I summon two copies of Evolsaur Terias!"

The DNA strand in Casinerio's tail lit up and in moments his entire body began to glow with a purple light. The lizard split into two balls of light that took the shape of two new monsters. In moments the light faded, and in Splicer and Brimstone's side of the field were two identical green tyrannosaurus-like monsters with black armored scaled on their faces and backs. On each one's back was a small pair of orange bat-like wings. Both of them had a green transparent tail containing a green and red DNA strand.

"The drawback to summoning monsters using Casinerio is that their effects are negated and they get banished at the end of the turn." Splicer continued. "But that doesn't really matter, because now I'm going to overlay these two and Xyz Summon my strongest monster! Say hello to Evolzar Solda!"

A swirling red vortex appeared in the center of the battlefield and pulled in Splicer's two dinosaurs as orange balls of energy. Rising out of the center a moment later was a large slender glowing white bipedal dragon with a long neck and limbs. It had a large pair of wings on its back, and it had a green transparent tail showing a strand of DNA. On its head were two sets of horns, with the two horns on the sides of its head being cone-shaped, and the two on the back of its head being slender and curved. Orbiting the dragon's body were two flaming balls of orange light.

"You two are gonna pay double for those two attacks you hit us with." Splicer declared. "By the time we're through with you, there won't even be enough ash left of you to put in an urn."

* * *

><p>Please review and let me know what you think.<p> 


	16. Extinction

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

><p>Chapter 16: Extinction<p>

"Thanks to the boost from Molten Destruction, Solda's ATK rises from 2600 to 3100." Splicer told Rio and Cleo. "Also, as long as Solda has overlay units, he can't be destroyed by card effects. But I can't attack anymore this turn, so I'll end things here for now."

Cleo drew her next card and began to figure out a way to get rid of Splicer's dragon. She saw that she had both The Trick and Flare Resonator in her hand, meaning that she could summon Red Dragon Archfiend with a 300 ATK boost, just enough power to eliminate Solda.

"I discard one card from my hand to summon The Tricky!" Cleo announced. The question mark-faced jester appeared on the battlefield.

"Sorry to spoil any plans you might have, but I activate Solda's effect!" Splicer announced. "When my opponent special summons a monster, I can detach one overlay unit to destroy that monster! Which means it's time to say goodbye to The Tricky!"

One of the orange balls of flame orbiting around Solda went into the dragon's waiting mouth. The glowing white dragon then opened its mouth again and struck The Tricky with a barrage of small fireballs. In an instant, The Tricky was burnt to ash.

"I'm guessing I just blew away any plans you had to try and turn this thing around." Splicer assumed.

Cleo scowled. "I set two cards on the field and end my turn!"

"It's payback time!" Brimstone excitedly declared as he drew his next card. "First I activate the Spell card, Lightning Vortex! By discarding Jurrac Ptera from my hand I can blow away that weird monster of yours!"

Several yellow lightning bolts rained down from the sky in a spiraling pattern and struck Ragnazero. Within less than a second, Rio's ice maiden was vaporized.

"I activate my Trap and summon Metal Reflect Slime!" Cleo announced. A metal blob appeared on Cleo and Rio's side of the battlefield and quickly took the form of a large muscular monster with a bull-like head.

"Whatever." Brimstone indifferently responded. "Next I activate Monster Reborn and bring Protops back from the Graveyard!" The flaming triceratops-like dinosaur reappeared on the field. "Now I summon the Tuner monster, Jurrac Brachis!"

Appearing on the field next to Protops was a purple-blue brachiosaurus-like dinosaur. Much of its body was aglow with dazzling red and orange flames.

"I tune my level three Brachis into my level four Protops for a level seven Synchro Summon!" Brimstone announced.

Brachis roared and changed into three rings made of red flames. The rings encircled Protops and changed the dinosaur into four white stars.

"Primeval spirits of the Jurassic Age! Awaken now and rekindle the ruthless predator of flames!" Brimstone chanted. "Synchro Summon! Roar back to life, Jurrac Giganto!"

The stars flashed and a pillar of red flames shot into the sky. After a moment the flames subsided to reveal a large dinosaur similar to a t-rex with small but well-developed muscular arms. Its body was blue while its head, hands and feet were orange. Two large horns made of orange flames burned on the top of its head.

"Giganto gains 200 ATK for every Jurrac monster resting in my Graveyard." Brimstone continued. "Add that to the boost from Molten Destruction, and his ATK becomes 3200!"

"Which means, you two are toast!" Splicer added.

"Giganto, burn that metal eyesore away!" Brimstone commanded. "Jurassic Volcano!"

Giganto roared and breathed out a powerful stream if molten flames at Metal Reflect Slime. In seconds the metal monster melted into a pool of liquid and evaporated.

"And now for the second wave!" Brimstone announced. "Solda! Burn these two bitches with Primeval Solar Flare!"

Solda roared and spewed out a stream of fire at Cleo and Rio. Brimstone laughed madly as the two girls were knocked to the ground by the attack. Rio and Cleo's life points took a heavy drop to 3950.

"This is totally not good!" a worried Iris declared from the boat. "Now Rio and Cleo don't have any monsters to protect themselves. And thanks to Splicer's monsters, they can't special summon anything to protect them."

"It's not all bad. Solda's already down to its last overlay unit." Robin pointed out. "Which means Splicer and Brimstone can only use his effect one more time. Plus once that last overlay unit goes, Solda will be vulnerable to destruction by card effects."

"It's probably not that easy." Thomas told them. "I'm sure that jerk, Splicer has more than a few cards to replenish Solda's overlay units if he needs to. Unless Rio can do something on her next turn, she and Atlas are done for."

"How do you like that, huh?" Brimstone laughed. "Serves you two right! Okay, I'll set one card on the field and end my turn."

Cleo and Rio finally got back to their feet. Afterwards, Rio drew her next card. "I set one card on the field and one monster face-down in Defense Mode! That ends my turn!"

"Time for the beginning of the end." Splicer declared as he drew his next card. "Solda, take out that face-down monster! Primeval Solar Flare!"

As Solda breathed out another plume of flames, Rio's facedown monster was revealed to be a small purple penguin-like bird with a large yellow beak and wearing red shoulder and chest armor. The little bird warrior was vaporized in an instant by the flames. As soon as the bird was destroyed though, a cold wind blew though the field and Solda and Giganto suddenly vanished.

"What the… what the freakin' hell just happened?" Brimstone demanded to know.

A smirk appeared on Rio's face. "The monster you attacked was my Penguin Solider. The moment you flipped him face up, I was able to return your two monsters back to the Extra Deck."

"Son of bitch!" Brimstone cursed as he stomped the ground. "We were this damn close to beating them and now this!"

"Calm down, bro. It's not over yet." Splicer told him. "For my next move, I play the Spell card, Nightmare Steel Cage!"

Suddenly appearing around Cleo and Rio was a very large dome-shaped cage made of black metal with gold spikes on the outside of the bars. The massive structure encompassed all of Cleo and Rio's side of the battlefield.

"Now neither of us can attack one another for two turns." Splicer told them. "That'll keep you two from trying to pull something for awhile. I set one card on the field and end my turn!"

"It's time to end this!" Cleo declared as she drew her next card. "I summon Flare Resonator in Attack Mode!" The flaming Resonator demon appeared inside the cage.

"I activate my Trap, Glacial Revival!" Rio announced. "This card lets me revive a Water monster from my Graveyard with its effects negated. So I summon Penguin Commando!" The militaristic penguin reappeared on the field.

"I activate the Spell, Double Summon and summon Force Resonator!" Cleo announced. Another of the Resonator demons with the ornate ball on its back appeared on the field. "Now I tune my level three Flare Resonator into Rio's level five Penguin Commando for a level eight Synchro Summon!"

Flare Resonator clinked his tuning fork and changed into three green rings of light. The rings encircled Penguin Commando and transformed the bird into five white stars.

"The ruler's heartbeats will now file through here! Take witness to its creation-shaking power!" Cleo chanted. "Synchro Summon! My very soul, Red Dragon Archfiend!"

The stars flashed and became a pillar of white light that shot up through the cage. The light faded after a moment to reveal Cleo's faithful red dragon.

"Now I activate my final Trap and summon the Tuner, Shapesister!" Cleo announced. Another metal blob appeared on the field and took the half humanoid form of a demonic-looking woman. "I tune my level two Force Resonator and Shapesister into my level eight Red Dragon Archfiend for a level twelve Synchro Summon!"

Force Resonator shot several lightning bolts from his fingertips before he and Shapesister changed into four rings of fire. The rings encircled Red Dragon Archfiend and became a star-like sphere of flames.

"The Empress and the Devil shall here and now be as one! A Raging Spirit! Lift up the very cries of Creation itself!" Cleo chanted. "Synchro Summon! The power to smite the gods, Red Nova Dragon!"

The fireball exploded and Red Nova emerged was a roar. Brimstone and Splicer were both startled by the dragon's new appearance. Everyone aboard the boat besides Carly, Robin and Iris were startled by the dragon's arrival as well.

"What kind of dragon is that?" Thomas asked.

"That's Red Nova, Red Dragon Archfiend's ultimate form." Robin explained. "Its power is great enough to rival that of the three Egyptian God cards used by Yugi Muto."

"Are you serious?" Michael exclaimed.

"What the hell?" Brimstone exclaimed back in the duel. "What kind of Synchro Monster uses two Tuners?"

"Red Nova Dragon gains 500 ATK for each Tuner monster in my Graveyard." Cleo announced. "Right now there are three Tuners in my Graveyard, which means that right now, Red Nova Dragon's ATK is 5000."

"I think you better count again." Splicer told her. "The moment Shapesister went into the Graveyard, she became a regular Trap card again. Which means your dragon doesn't get a boost from her."

"You simpleton." Cleo responded. "The card I discarded to summon The Tricky was Emissary from Pandemonium, a Tuner! There are other ways to get a Tuner into the Graveyard besides using it as Synchro material."

"Well even if that dragon of yours does have 5000 ATK, he can't do anything with it behind that cage." Splicer pointed out.

"True. But now that Red Nova is on the field, there's no way you scum can win!" Cleo declared. "I'll end my turn."

At this, Brimstone suddenly began to laugh. "Okay, I'll admit you're not bad, Atlas. You really are a chip off the old man. But this is as far as you and that girlfriend of yours are going to get in this duel, because this turn my little bro and I are going to finish you off."

"Wait, the two of you are brothers?" a surprised Rio asked.

"I guess there's no harm in telling you two, seeing as how you're both about to become kindling here in just a minute." Brimstone decided. "My real name is Clayton Forbes. Splicer there is my little brother, Clermont. When we were about ten and eight, we both developed our psychic power. Of course our parents thought we were freaks, so they shipped us of to this special facility to 'help' with our powers."

"That place… it was hell." Splicer added. "Those scientists there performed all sorts of tests on us to push us to our limits. They didn't give a damn about us! All we were to them were lab rats or possible weapons."

"As far as the rest of the world was concerned, we were freaks who didn't deserve to be treated like humans." Brimstone continued. "So one day when I got a good hold on my powers, I used them to blow that facility and the whole town it was located in sky high! That day Splicer and I never looked back. We became assassins willing to work for anyone who hired us. The two of us are gonna burn this world to a crisp and get rich doing it!"

"Is this the part where I'm supposed to feel sorry for you?" Cleo indifferently asked. "I'm quite familiar with the plight of the psychic duelists, as I've got a few of them in my extended family. But your tragic past doesn't excuse what you've done. Psychic powers or not, you two are nothing but scum."

"Yeah? Well I don't give a shit what you think about me!" Brimstone declared as he drew his next card. "All you can do for me is die! I activate the Spell, Pot of Greed and draw two cards! Next I summon the Tuner, Jurrac Dino!"

Appearing on Splicer and Brimstone's side of the battlefield was a small red and yellow bipedal dinosaur with small arms and feet covered in flames. On its face was a red mask with yellow horns, and on its stomach were black spots that made it look like its stomach had another face.

"Next I activate the Trap, Fossil Excavation!" Brimstone announced. "By discarding one card, I summon Jurrac Ptera from my Graveyard!"

Appearing on the field in a burst of flames was a dinosaur resembling a pterodactyl. It had a green body and wings covered in red flames. A plum of flames burned on the top of its head.

"Now I activate my own Fossil Excavation Trap and discard a card to summon Evolsaur Pelta from my Graveyard!" Splicer announced. His green red-spiked dinosaur reappeared on the field.

"Now to show you two my ace card! The card I used to blow that damn town off the map!" Brimstone announced. "I tune my level three Jurrac Dino into my level three Jurrac Ptera and Splicer's level four Evolsaur Pelta for a level ten Synchro Summon!"

Dino roared and chanced into three rings made of red fire. The rings encircled the other two dinosaurs and changed them into seven white stars.

"Vengeful primeval of the Jurassic Age! Rise up and bring forth the flaming harbinger of Armageddon!" Brimstone chanted. "Synchro Summon! Blow it all away, Jurrac Meteor!"

The stars flashed and turned into a fireball that shot up high into the sky, creating a hole in the clouds of ash above. The field became silent, and Cleo and the others began to look around to find what Brimstone had supposedly summoned.

"So where's this monster of yours?" Cleo asked.

"Look up." Brimstone told her with a mad grin.

Cleo and Rio both looked up into the sky where Brimstone was pointing and saw a red point of light that at first looked like a star. Within seconds however the star started to become bigger. Soon the two of them could see that it was actually a large monster. It was a green almost humanoid reptile with three small red horns encased in a large spiky rock.

"That monster's going to collide into us!" Rio realized.

"Get it now? When Jurrac Meteor is summoned, he nukes every card on the field and lets me summon a Tuner from my Graveyard!" Brimstone revealed. "But with my powers, the damage that Jurrac Meteor caused becomes very real! You'll both be lucky if the only thing left of you two is your teeth!"

As Brimstone laughed manically, Jurrac Metor became near enough for everyone to see. Cleo managed to run over to Rio's side, and within a split second the meteor creature struck the earth, raising a huge cloud of dust and smoke. The force of the impact even caused the ground to shake momentarily. Brimstone continued to laugh and a satisfied smirk appeared on Splicer's face. As the smoke cleared and the dust settled though, the laughter suddenly came to a stop. Brimstone and Splicer both went pale when they saw that Red Nova Dragon was still on the field.

Cleo and Rio were inside a spherical barrier with red light. Cleo's arms were around Rio as the mark on her arm glowed brilliantly. The boat meanwhile was also inside a larger sphere of red light. Robin's eyes were glowing red and her arms were outstretched, indicating that she was the one creating the barrier. As soon as the dust completely settled both barriers faded.

Robin fell to her knees catching her breath. "Boy! That was a close one."

"How… how is that dragon… still alive?" a horrified Brimstone asked.

"Red Nova Dragon can't be destroyed by my opponent's card effects." Cleo explained. "That meteor of your was nothing compared to Red Nova's power."

"What now?" Splicer asked.

"Damn!" Brimstone cursed. "I use Jurrac Meteor's effect to summon Jurrac Dino from the Graveyard in Defense Mode and end my turn!" The masked dinosaur reappeared on the field.

"You okay to finish this, Snowflake?" Cleo asked Rio.

"Yeah, I can handle this." Rio answered.

Cleo nodded and allowed Rio to step forward. As Rio drew her next card, it glowed with a brilliant red light.

"I play Rank-Up-Magic The Seventh One!" Rio announced. "Using this card I revive Ragnazero and use her to rebuild the overlay network and Xyz Summon Number C103: Ragnafinity!"

A swirling vortex in form of a galaxy appeared in the middle of the field, and Ragnazero rose out of the middle of it in a new form. She had on a tight-fitting black and purple dress with a long skirt that ended in flat black spikes. The chest of her dress glowed with a crimson light. Projecting out from her lower back were two wings made of black armor. Atop her head was a helmet in the form of a large three-pointed crest. In her hands she held a long thin scythe with a gigantic red curved blade on one end and a smaller curved red blade on the other. On the ground near here was a single red diamond-shaped crystal with gold plates.

"Ragnafinity, attack Jurrac Dino!" Rio commanded. "Frozen Death Scythe!"

Ragnafinity moved in and sliced Dino down the middle with the large blade of her scythe. The two halves became frozen in ice and shattered apart instantly.

"Red Nova Dragon, attack them directly!" Rio and Cleo commanded together. "Burning Soul!"

Red Nova roared and his body became covered in flames. The dragon flew in and struck Brimstone and Splicer at once. The two psychic duelists were knocked to the ground unconscious and their life points dropped to zero. With the duel finally at an end, Ragnafinity and Red Nova vanished and the surrounding area returned to normal. Cleo stepped forward back next to Rio.

Rio smiled and turned to her. "We did it."

"Yes we did." Cleo replied.

With that, Cleo pulled Rio into an embrace and planted a firm kiss on the lips. Dipping Rio backward, Cleo inserted her tongue into Rio's mouth. Many of the others on the boat paused and stared at them with wide eyes. Thomas began to grind his teeth as he looked upon the two of them kissing. After a moment, the two girls broke for air and Rio had a rather goofy-looking smile on her face. At that point, the others got of the boat and went towards them.

"Rio, are you okay?" Iris asked her.

"…Wha?" a still very dazed Rio responded.

"Boy! Cleo must be one heck of a kisser." Robin remarked.

"Just like her father." Carly replied.

"We better do something to lock up Brimstone and Splicer." Michael decided.

"I can't believe my brother actually hired these two freaks." Alyssa spoke.

"Yeah. Dante's really gone off the deep end alright." Thomas remarked.

"He is being guided by a force of pure destruction." Robin suddenly spoke in a voice that was deeper than normal.

The others looked and saw that Robin's eyes were glowing with a crimson light. The dragon seal on her back had begun to glow as well.

"Hey Robin, are you okay?" Iris asked.

"It's the Crimson Dragon. It's speaking through her." Cleo deduced. "Okay, Dragon. You obviously seem to know something about what's going on here, so talk."

"What is going on here started long before the time of the one called Prince Zahn." The dragon began. "Ages ago a comet exuding an evil aura threatened to collide with the planet. As this world's protector I went forth to destroy the comet before it reached Earth, aided only by Red Dragon Archfiend. That day when the comet came in range, Red Dragon Archfiend attacked it and caused it to shatter. I managed to destroy the rest, but a single piece of it managed to fall to the planet.

"What I failed to realize at the time was that the comet contained a wicked spirit. And somehow that spirit had been able to take a form similar to Red Dragon Archfiend's. Perhaps because Red Dragon was the one who first shattered it, I cannot say. The royal family of Obsidia eventually found the fragment. It was at that time the spirit began to influence them and guide them down the path of darkness. They carved the fragment into a stone tablet under the spirit's guidance, and from one of the pieces they chipped off during the carving they fashioned a pendent.

"Over time, the spirit of the comet thrived and eventually evolved into a creature similar to Red Nova Dragon. Had I sensed this evil sooner I would've destroyed it immediately, but by the time I finally did it was too late. So to combat the evil I chose Sonja, Cleo's past incarnation, as a Legendary Signer to help me destroy it. Alas, the battle with the spirit of the comet ended in a draw. But the wicked creature had at least gone dormant, at least until now."

"So when Dante created Black Dragon Archfiend, he was being manipulated by that evil spirit into making a card based on his original form." Iris theorized.

"I sense it will not be long now before the spirit fully awakens again." The Crimson Dragon spoke. "Not now that his tablet has been found again. If the creature is not destroyed soon, it will spread nothing but chaos and destruction across this world."

"Don't worry. I'll make sure that doesn't happen." Cleo assured the dragon.

"I wish you luck, Cleo." The dragon told her. With that, Robin's eyes stopped glowing and she returned to normal.

Suddenly Cleo's D-Gazer began to ring. She looked and saw that the call was from an unknown number. Placing the device over her eye, she activated it and saw that it was Dante.

_"Good evening, Sonja."_ Dante greeted. _"Since you're speaking to me, I assume you were able to defeat the little distraction I sent to keep you occupied."_

"Fairbanks!" Cleo responded. "I'm going to pay for everything you've done!"

_"You're most welcome to try."_ Dante told her. _"I'll be waiting for you in front of the castle. I suggest you come sooner rather than later. Otherwise I can't be held responsible for what happens to Mr. Tsukumo. He is here with me, by the way."_

"Oh I'll be there." Cleo replied. She then shut off her D-Gazer and turned to the others. "Dante just challenged me. He's at the castle with Mr. Tsukumo."

"I'm going with you." Rio told her.

"Me too." Iris chimed in.

"Byron and I will handle putting Brimstone and Splicer under lock and key." Faker told them. "The rest of you can go deal with Dante."

"I'll stay here with Dr. Faker and Mr. Arclight." Carly decided.

"Okay then. Let's go." Cleo told them.

"Cleo." Carly spoke as they began to walk off, causing them to pause. "Be careful."

"Don't worry, mother. I'll be fine." Cleo assured her. "Before this night is over, I will see Fairbanks driven before me."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> I confess that the primary reason I brought Robin into this story was to help explain the true origins of Black Dragon Archfiend, the crystal tablet and Dante's pendant. I couldn't really think of any other way to do that during the outline stages.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	17. The Reckoning

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

><p>Chapter 17: The Reckoning<p>

Cleo and the others walked through the forest towards the ruined castle of Sonja, guided by the light of the moon above. By the time the finally arrived they saw Dante standing in front of the statue of Sonja with his arms cross. A smug expression was on the mad card creator's face. On the ground just a couple of feet to Dante's right was a seemingly unconscious Kazuma. Michael and Thomas immediately rushed over to Kazuma while Cleo stepped forward to face Dante.

"I knew you would show up, Sonja." Dante spoke. "Now at long last we can settle the ancient score between us once and for all."

"You're right about one thing, Fairbanks. This is going to end now." Cleo told him. "But it's pathetic how hung-up you are on these past lives of ours. I'll admit that I'm actually a bit pleased with the fact that I was a powerful empress in a former life. But that's all in the past. I live in the present. One of the things my father taught me was that those who dwell in the past are weak and can never become strong."

"But this battle of ours is rooted in the past." Dante told her. "And until it's settled, neither of us can move on."

"Dante, please stop this!" Alyssa begged. "This isn't you! You've let that freaky pendant of yours get to you!"

"Oh, Alyssa. So you somehow broke free of the little spell I put you under." Dante indifferently observed. "Well it doesn't really matter, I suppose. You've long outlived your usefulness to me."

Meanwhile, Kazuma finally regained consciousness. Thomas and Michael helped the adventurer to his feet.

"Mr. Tsukumo, are you okay?" Michael asked.

"I'm fine." Kazuma assured them. "Dante surprised me and knocked me out after he finished that card he came to make."

"You know our dad and Dr. Faker have been trying to call you all day." Thomas informed him.

"Oh. Guess that explains all those voicemails I saw when I realized I forgot to turn my D-Gazer on." Kazuma replied. "I probably should've listened to them, huh?"

"Wait, Mr. Tsukumo. You said that Dante finished that card of his?" Michael asked.

"Yes. Based on this crystal tablet inside the castle." Kauzma confirmed.

"Ah! So you're finally awake, Mr. Tsukumo." Dante observed. "I hoped that you would be. You did after all get to see the birth of my strongest card. It's only fitting that you should be one of the first to see it in action."

"Let's just get this over with, Fairbanks!" Cleo told him.

"Yes. Let us." Dante agreed.

Suddenly Dante's pendant began to glow and five small spikes made of blue crystal burst up from the ground liked the points of a star around Cleo and Dante. Cracking beams of blue energy formed between the spikes, and a wave of energy pushed back Rio and the others.

"Cleo!" a worried Rio called out.

"Don't worry, Snowflake. I'll be fine." Cleo assured her.

"It's just you and me now, Sonja." Dante told her. "At last we can properly pick up where we left off."

Cleo and Dante both activated their duel disks. With the activation of everyone's D-Gazers, the color of the surrounding area went through a slight change.

Cleo drew her first card. "I set one card face-down. Then I summon Stygian Street Patrol in Defense Mode!"

Appearing on Cleo's side of the battlefield was a motorcycle rider clad completely in black. On his head was a demonic-looking helmet with two large yellow-brown horns. The front of his motorcycle was a brown demonic-looking head similar to one of the heads of Stygian Sergeants. Flashing on the sides of the front of this head were two red siren lights.

"I end my turn." Cleo announced.

Dante drew his first card. "Let me introduce you to another one of my proud creations. I summon Diamond Lord of Dragons in Attack Mode!"

Materializing on Dante's side of the battlefield was a man wearing black clothes and a white helmet resembling a dragon's head. His chest was covered by a piece of white armor resembling a dragon's face, and on his back was a red cape with a high collar. He had silver gloves on his hands, and on his shoulder's were two pointed crystal shards.

"You know, for a card designer you're pretty unoriginal." Cleo remarked. "That monster's just a redesigned version of the old Lord of Dragons card that's been around for ages."

"I prefer to improve upon card designs of the past." Dante told her. "For instance, my Diamond Lord of Dragons has 1700 ATK, a much more suitable amount of ATK points for a level four monster. More importantly though, he has his own summoning effect built in. An effect that I activate now! During my turn I can discard a Spell card to summon a level four or below Dragon-type monster from my hand. So I discard Stamping Destruction to summon Luster Dragon!"

The dragon lord waved his left arm and shot a beam of red light at a spot of ground on Dante's side of the battlefield. Appearing in that spot was a human-sized dragon covered in rugged sapphire scales. Two large fangs projected from its lower jaw, and on its back was a pair of large yet underdeveloped wings.

"Why did Dante discard Stamping Destruction?" Michael wondered. "He could've used that the get rid of Cleo's face-down card."

"He must not be worried about Cleo's face-down card." Kazuma assumed. "Which means he's either being overconfident, or he already has another way around whatever trap Cleo has set."

"But of course there's one more attribute to my Diamond Lord of Dragon's that puts him far above the original." Dante continued. "My Dragon Lord is also a Tuner. So I tune my level four Diamond Lord of Dragons into my level four Luster Dragon for a level eight Synchro Summon!"

The dragon lord brought his hands together and changed into four red rings of light. The rings encircled Luster Dragon and changed the beast into five black stars.

"The monarch's heartbeats shall now file through here! Bare witness to its earth-shaking power!" Dante chanted. "Synchro Summon! My unbreakable will, Black Dragon Archfiend!"

The black stars flashed and a pillar of crackling black energy shot into the air. In moments the energy faded and Red Dragon Archfiend emerged with a roar.

"No way!" a stunned Robin exclaimed. "It really is a clone of Red Dragon Archfiend!"

"Black Dragon Archfiend, destroy Stygian Street Patrol!" Dante commanded. "Unbreakable Diamond Force!"

"I activate my Trap, Widespread Ruin!" Cleo announced. "This card destroys the monster with the highest ATK on my opponent's side of the field! Of course the only monster you have right now that rip-off dragon of yours, which means it now goes away!"

Black Dragon Archfiend moved in as the crystal plate on his right arm began to glow. Just as it was about to strike, an explosion of fire erupted from the ground beneath him. As the smoke cleared however, Cleo and the others were shocked to see Black Dragon Archfiend was still on the field. A maniacal laugh escaped Dante's mouth.

"A valiant try, Sonja." Dante told Cleo. "But I should mention that any Synchro Monster summoned using Diamond Lord of Dragons becomes completely unaffected by my opponent's card effects. That combined with Black Dragon Archfiend's indestructability in battle makes him completely invincible."

"How the heck is Cleo supposed to get rid of Black Dragon Archfiend now?" Iris wondered.

"Cleo." A very worried Rio whispered.

"Now, my great dragon! Have at Sonja's monster!" Dante ordered.

Black Dragon Archfiend roared and punched Stygian Street Patrol. The demon biker shattered to bits and Cleo's life points dropped to 2200.

"What the… but my monster was in Defense Mode!" a surprised Cleo exclaimed.

"Didn't I mention before that Black Dragon Archfiend was able to inflict piercing damage?" Dante revealed. "Ah well. I'll end my turn here."

Cleo drew her next card. "I activate the effect of Stygian Street Patrol from the Graveyard! By banishing him, I can summon a Fiend-type monster with 2000 or less ATK from my hand. So I summon Dark Resonator!" The little Resonator demon materialized on the field. "Next I summon Mist Archfiend in Attack Mode!" A red mist formed on the field and changed into Cleo's red and black mist demon. "I tune the level three Dark Resonator into the level five Mist Archfiend for a level eight Synchro Summon!"

Dark Resonator clinked his tuning fork and changed into three green rings of light. The rings encircled Mist Archfiend and transformed the demon into five white stars.

"The ruler's heartbeats will now file through here! Take witness to its creation-shaking power!" Cleo chanted. "Synchro Summon! My very soul, Red Dragon Archfiend!"

The stars flashed and a pillar of white light shot into the sky. After a moment the light faded and Cleo's faithful red dragon emerged with a roar. Black Dragon Archfiend roared back in response.

"Well, well. It seems we've been here before." Dante recalled. "If memory serves, you used the same two monsters to summon Red Dragon Archfiend before. And I'm sure you remember how that turned out."

"That time you managed to catch me off guard. The same trick isn't going to work on me twice." Cleo told him. "I set one card on the field and end my turn."

Dante drew his next card. "Black Dragon Archfiend, crush your pathetic counterpart a second time! Unbreakable Diamond Force!"

"I activate my Trap, Negate Attack!" Cleo announced.

The crystal plate on Black Dragon Archfiend's arm began to glow again as it flew in to attack. Just as the dark dragon came in range though, a vortex appeared in front of Red Dragon Archfiend and pushed the black dragon back over to its own side of the battlefield.

"So you managed to dodge the bullet for one turn." Dante observed. "No matter. I'll simply set one card on the field and end my turn."

Cleo drew her next card. "I activate the Spell, Red Dragon Vase! Since Red Dragon Archfiend is on the field, Red Dragon Vase lets me draw two more cards."

"Go ahead, improve your hand." Dante dared. "Nothing you do can remove Black Dragon Archfiend from the field."

"I summon Clock Resonator in Attack Mode!" Cleo announced. The little clock demon appeared on the field. "Next I play the Spell, Over Tuning and summon Barrier Resonator!" The battery-powered demon appeared next to Clock Resonator. "I tune the level three Clock Resonator and the level one Barrier Resonator into the level eight Red Dragon Archfiend for a level twelve Synchro Summon!"

Both Resonator demons clinked their tuning forks and changed into four rings of fire. The rings encircled Red Dragon Archfiend and changed into a single flaming star.

"The Empress and the Devil shall here and now be as one! A Raging Spirit! Lift up the very cries of Creation itself!" Cleo chanted. "Synchro Summon! The power to smite the gods, Red Nova Dragon!"

Red Nova Dragon burst out of its flaming cocoon with a roar. Black Dragon Archfiend roared and hissed at the larger dragon.

"Because there are currently three Tuners in my Graveyard, Red Nova Dragon's ATK rises to 5000!" Cleo announced.

"True, but Black Dragon Archfiend can't be destroyed in battle no matter how many ATK points your dragon has." Dante reminded her.

"True, but you still take damage!" Cleo pointed out. "Red Nova Dragon, attack Black Dragon Archfiend! Burning Soul!"

"I activate my Trap, Black Dragon Screech!" Dante announced. "This card negates your attack on Black Dragon Archfiend and lets me add a Dragon-type monster to my hand!"

Red Nova Dragon roared and his body became covered in flames. Just as Red Nova flew towards Black Dragon Archfiend to attack though, the evil dragon let out a deafening shriek that caused Cleo and the others to cover their ears. Red Nova Dragon's attack halted and the flames that covered his body subsided.

"How transparent you are, Sonja." Dante remarked. "Trying to inflict as much damage as you can despite my Black Dragon's invincibility. But all you've done is play right into my hands."

A large grin appeared on Cleo's face. "Actually, you played right into mine. Since you just negated Red Nova's attack, I can now activate the Quick-Play Spell I got recently, Double or Nothing!"

"What?" Dante exclaimed.

"Ah ha! So Cleo decided to use the card I gave her after all." Kazuma grinned.

"Thanks to Double or Nothing, Red Nova Dragon gains a second attack, and his ATK is doubled for this battle!" Cleo continued. "Meaning for this second battle, Red Nova's ATK becomes 10000!"

"Black Dragon Archfiend only has 3000 ATK points, which means that Dante will end up taking 7000 points of damage!" Michael realized. "If Cleo's attack gets through, she wins!"

"Red Nova Dragon, attack Black Dragon Archfiend and end this!" Cleo ordered. "Burning Soul!"

Red Nova Dragon roared and his body once again became covered in flames that burned even brighter than before. The dragon flew at Black Dragon Archfiend at full speed. But at the very last second before the attack could make contact, the ghostly form of a smaller dragon appeared in front of Black Dragon Archfiend. It had four legs and a pair of large red wings. Its body was covered in chainmail, with its torso clad in silver armor like that of a medieval knight. On its head was a helmet with two white curved horns.

Red Nova Dragon's attack made contact, causing a large explosion that enveloped Black Dragon Archfiend. When the smoke cleared however, Black Dragon Archfiend was still on the field and Dante's life points had only fallen to 500, much to the shock of Cleo and the others.

"What? How is it that you're not out of life points?" Cleo demanded to know.

"During your second attack, I discarded another monster I created, Chainmail Dragon." Dante explained. "This monster's effect cut the damage from your attack in half, leaving me with just enough life points to stay in this duel."

"Damn you!" Cleo cursed.

"There was a reason I became known as the Black Diamond in my former life." Dante told her. "It was because no matter how strong or powerful my opponent, I could never be broken. The cards I made for my personal use reflect that trait. You may have power, Sonja. But I have invincibility."

"I have to admit, this is a pretty amazing duel." Robin remarked. "No matter what kind of offense Cleo uses, Dante keeps managing to hang in there. It's like the sharpest sword against the strongest shield."

"So now that you've used up your entire hand, what do you intend to do now, Sonja?" Dante smugly asked.

"I… end my turn." Cleo announced.

Dante grinned as he drew his next card. "You've put up a good fight, Sonja. But this is where it all comes to an end! I summon the monster I added to my hand using Black Dragon Screech! A Tuner monster called Dark Prism Dragon!"

Appearing on the field was a small four-legged dragon with dark-grey scales, yellow eyes, and two small cone-shaped horns on its head. On its back was a pair of large crystalline wings, and embedded in its chest was a clear diamond-shaped gem.

"I now activate Dark Prism Dragon's effect!" Dante announced. "Because I have a Dragon-type Synchro Monster on the field, I can send Dark Prism Dragon to the Graveyard to summon two more Dark Prism Dragons from my deck!"

Dark Prism Dragon roared and the gem in its chest began to glow with a multicolored light. Two beams of light shot from the gem and hit the ground to the little dragon's left and right. Dark Prism Dragon began to fade as two clones of it appeared on the field.

"I now tune my two level two Dark Prism Dragons into my level eight Black Dragon Archfiend for a level twelve Synchro Summon!" Dante announced.

Both Dark Prism Dragons roared and changed into four rings made of cracking blue electricity. The rings encircled Black Dragon Archfiend and encased it inside a crackling ball of blue light.

"The Monarch and the Dragon shall hence forth be as one! A Ruthless Spirit! Bring forth the very cries of Destruction itself!" Dante chanted. "Synchro Summon! The power to break the gods, Black Comet Dragon!"

The ball of energy exploded into a pillar of blue light that shot into the sky. After a moment the light faded to reveal a large bipedal black and silver dragon with four blade-like wings and a row of blade-like spines ran down the length of its back all the way down its tail. On the tip of the tail was a crystal blade like an axe. The back of the dragon's head was a pointed crystal shard like a horn, with two more curved crystal horns on the sides of its head. On each side of its mouth were two sets of three small white tusks. The dragon had a somewhat portly physique, and on its shoulders were two large crystal spikes. Two large crystal plates almost like shields covered its forearms, and on its chest was a small red diamond.

"I'm sure you recognize this creature, don't you Sonja?" Dante asked. "This was the dragon that came to my aid during our ancient battle."

"So as a card, Black Comet Dragon has the same stats and summoning requirements as Red Nova Dragon." Cleo observed.

"Yes, and like Red Nova, Black Comet Dragon gains 500 ATK for each Tuner in my Graveyard." Dante revealed.

"And since you have four Tuners in your Graveyard, Black Comet Dragon is 500 points stronger than Red Nova."

"Actually, a little more." Dante revealed. "You see the monster I discarded earlier, Chainmail Dragon, is also a Tuner. Which means Black Comet Dragon's ATK is currently 6000."

"Big deal. So Black Comet's 1000 points stronger than Red Nova." Cleo replied. "That's only a slight advantage at best."

"Ah, but there's one more thing you should know about Black Comet." Dante told her. "When he attacks a monster with 2500 or more ATK points, he gains half that ATK during the battle!"

"That means… if Dante's attack gets through… Cleo's finished!" a horrified Rio realized.

"This is the end, Sonja!" Dante declared. "At long last, my moment of vengeance is nigh!"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> My original plan for this final duel was to have Cleo and Rio team up against Dante, but at the last minute I decided against it. The first reason was because asymmetrical duels are just kind of a pain for me to write. The second and even bigger reason though was that I would've been following the same pattern that was in _Vampire Papillon_, with a tag duel followed by an asymmetrical duel. Plus I just felt like since this was ancient fight between Cleo and Dante, it should just be those two alone that settle it. But don't worry though. Rio will be playing a major role in this duel later on.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	18. Zero Nova

**Author's Note:** So as it turns out, this is going to be the final chapter of this story. I thought originally that I'd have to do another chapter after this one to properly wrap things up. But last night I was so pumped to start getting this tale finished I decided to get a head start last night and began writing this chapter a little around 10:30 PM. At a little before 1:00 AM, I wound up finishing the entire second half of the final duel. I wound up with a fairly good-sized chapter, but it didn't seem like the best place to leave things. So I just decided to end the whole story here.

I should warn everyone that this chapter gets pretty steamy towards the end. I did change this story to an M rating, after all. That said, I hope everyone enjoys the conclusion of _The Scarlet Empress_.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL.

* * *

><p>Chapter 18: Zero Nova<p>

"Black Comet Dragon, attack Red Nova Dragon!" Dante commanded. "Diamond Will!"

"I activate Red Nova Dragon's effect!" Cleo quickly announced. "By banishing Red Nova from the field until the end of the turn, I can negate Black Comet's attack!"

Black Comet Dragon roared and his body began to crackle with blue electrical energy. The dark dragon took off towards Red Nova like a shooting star, but in an instant the red dragon vanished and a massive pillar of flames appeared in front of Cleo. Black Comet Dragon was forced back and the flames vanished.

"So you managed to extend your miserable life for one more turn." Dante observed. "But sooner or later I will crush you and have my revenge!"

"And what then?" Cleo asked. "Say you do manage to defeat me in this duel. What happens after that?"

"Simple. Now that Black Comet Dragon is back at my side, I will destroy this world and rebuild it to suit my own tastes!" Dante declared. "Everything that is will be extinguished and I shall stand atop the world as its king! That is my destiny! The destiny that Black Comet Dragon has shown me!"

"I don't believe it." A horrified Alyssa spoke as Dante let out another maniacal laugh. "My brother really has gone off the deep end."

"Black Comet Dragon is affecting his mind." Robin told Alyssa. "It's a creature that wants nothing more than to eradicate all life on this planet. That's why it came to Earth in the first place as a comet."

"So that thing is using Dante as its puppet?" Alyssa asked.

"Pretty much." Robin confirmed. "The only possible way to free Dante from Black Comet Dragon is for Cleo to beat him."

"You know Fairbanks, it amazes me to see just how pathetic you truly are." Cleo told him.

"And what do you mean by that?" Dante asked.

"I'll admit that Black Comet Dragon is indeed an impressive card. Perhaps its even as powerful as my Red Nova." Cleo replied. "But you've let the power of your dragon consume you, while I've bent the power of my dragon to my will. Someone as weak as you could never overcome someone like me."

"You can say what you want if you somehow manage to win." Dante told her. "I'll end my turn here." With the end of Dante's turn, Red Nova Dragon reappeared on the field.

Cleo drew her next card. "I activate the Spell card, Smashing Ground! This card destroys the monster you control with the highest DEF! And since the only monster you have on the field is Black Comet, your dragon is the one that gets destroyed!"

"I think not, for I activate another one of Black Comet Dragon's effects!" Dante announced. "Whenever Black Comet is targeted by a card effect, I can negate that effect and deal 600 points of damage to my opponent for each card in my hand. And because I currently have three cards in my hand, you take 1800 points of damage!"

A ball of blue light shot down from the sky towards Black Comet Dragon. The evil dragon fired a beam of light from his jaws and blasted the oncoming projectile, destroying in a massive explosion. Black Comet Dragon then fired to bolts of blue electricity from the large crystals on its shoulders at Cleo. Cleo was knocked back by the blast into the invisible wall created by the crystals that Dante had brought up from the ground. Cleo fell to one knee and her life points dropped to 400.

"Cleo!" a worried Rio called out.

"A nice stroke of luck drawing Smashing Ground from your deck this turn." Dante remarked. "But I'm afraid luck won't be enough to save you now."

"I… end my turn." Cleo announced as she got back to her feet.

"This isn't looking good." Thomas observed. "I'm not a huge fan of Atlas, but if she loses the whole world could be in danger from that freak."

"Right now it looks like Cleo and Dante are pretty even." Michael noted. "They both have close to the same amount of life points. But if Dante finds some way to remove Red Nova from the field, it's all over."

Dante drew his next card. "I activate a Spell card called Rising Dragon Soul Force! Since I have only 500 life points, this card gives me 500 additional life points for every dragon currently in my Graveyard. At the moment five dragons currently rest in my Graveyard, which means I gain 3000 life points!"

Five transparent white serpentine dragons suddenly rose up from the ground around Dante. The dragons went into Dante's duel disk, causing his life points to rise to 3500.

"Black Comet Dragon, attack Red Nova!" Dante commanded. "Diamond Will!"

"I activate Red Nova's effect and banish him from the field to negate Black Comet's attack!" Cleo announced.

Black Comet Dragon roared as his body once again became covered in crackling blue energy. As the wicked dragon flew in for the kill, Red Nova vanished and a pillar of flames appeared to block Black Comet Dragon's attack. Black Comet was forced back and the pillar of fire disappeared.

"Well, it seems we've reached something of an impasse." Dante observed. "For now I shall simply set one card on the field as a precaution and end my turn." With the end of Dante's turn, Red Nova reappeared.

"This can't go on forever." Thomas spoke. "Sooner or later, Dante is gonna draw a card that'll let him get Red Nova out of the way and move in for the kill. Unless Atlas can somehow power up Red Nova soon, it's all over."

"This really is starting to get tedious, you know." Dante remarked. "No matter how many times you use Red Nova's effect to block my attack, in the end you'll only fail. What do you expect to do with no cards in your hand and only Red Nova to protect you? The only way this duel can end is with your death!"

Rio's face went pale upon hearing Dante's words. "No… I-I can't do it. Not again."

"Rio?" Iris responded.

"I can't just stand by and watch Cleo die again! Not again!" Rio spoke.

"Rio, calm down!" Iris told her.

"No!" Rio cried out. Suddenly she passed out and collapsed to the ground.

At the same moment, Cleo cried out as her body began to glow with a red aura. Her Signer mark began to glow, and as she drew from the deck the card she pulled glowed with a crimson light.

"I play the Spell card, Rank-Up-Magic The Seventh One!" Cleo announced.

"What?" Dante exclaimed.

"I call forth Number 103: Rangazero and use her to Xyz Summon Number C103: Ragnafinity!" Cleo announced.

A swirling vortex in the form of a galaxy appeared in the center of the battlefield. Ragnafinity arose from the center of the vortex bringing a red crystal with gold plates on it with her.

"Did Rio loan Cleo some of her cards on the way here?" a confused Alyssa asked.

"No, she didn't." Iris told her. "I don't know how this is even possible."

"So, did Princess Merag loan you that strange monster of hers before you went into this duel?" Dante asked.

"It's more than that." Cleo told him. "I'm not fighting this duel alone."

Suddenly the aura surrounding Cleo began to take of a shape. Dante and the others could see the feint image of Rio behind Cleo with her arms around her shoulders.

"I don't believe it!" Iris spoke. "It's like Rio's somehow projecting herself into Cleo and lending her power to her."

"Well whatever's going on, it really doesn't matter." Dante scoffed. "That strange creature of Merag's will do nothing to save you."

"That's where you're wrong!" Cleo told him. "Because now I'm going to combine my power with Rio's to end this duel!"

Suddenly the dragon seal on Robin's back began to glow. At the same time, glowing crimson lines began to form in the middle of the battlefield and formed into the seal of the Crimson Dragon around the Barian Emblem.

"I use Red Nova Dragon and Ragnafinity to build the overlay network and Xyz Summon a being whose power can freeze the fires of the underworld!" Cleo announced in an echoing voice. "Arise, CXyz Zero Nova Dragon!"

Red Nova and Ragnazero turned into balls of red energy and were pulled into the center of the Barian Emblem on the ground. A moment later the ground shook and a massive pillar of crimson light burst up from the ground through the symbol. Dark clouds covered the night sky and a cold wind began to blow and cover everything in snow and ice. Black Comet Dragon instantly became covered in a thick layer of frost. After a moment the pillar of energy faded to reveal Red Nova Dragon in a new form.

The once red dragon had turned blue and black. His horns had been replaced with the black three-pointed crest that adorned Ragnafinity's head. On his back were six blade-like wings made of black armor, similar to the wings on Ragnafinity's back. On the top right wing, the number 103 glowed with a red light. The dragon's arms and legs were completely black with glowing lines of crimson energy running up the sides. Adorning the dragon's chest. On the ground around Zero Nova Dragon were three large diamond-shaped crystals with gold plates on them.

"A rank thirteen Xyz Monster?" Dante exclaimed. "I've never heard of such a thing!"

"Zero Nova Dragon is a special card that can only be summoned using Red Nova and Ragnazero." Cleo explained. "Like Red Nova, Zero Nova Dragon gains 500 ATK for each Tuner monster in my Graveyard. Which means his ATK rises from 4500 to 6000."

"So the ATK of our dragons is now equal." Dante observed.

"That's where you're wrong." Cleo told him. "While Zero Nova is on the field, the ATK increasing effects of all other cards on the field are reversed. Meaning the ATK of Black Comet Dragon has fallen to 1000."

"What?" a shocked Dante exclaimed.

"Whoa! Talk about a total reversal!" Thomas remarked.

"I activate my Trap, Diamond Dragon Shield!" Dante announced. "Since you special summoned a monster, this card switches Black Comet Dragon to Defense Mode! Black Comet Dragon cannot be destroyed in battle, which means for the time being I have the perfect shield."

"Your shield is about to break, for I activate Zero Nova Dragon's effect!" Cleo announced. "By detaching all of his chaos overlay units, Zero Nova Dragon destroys all other monsters on the field with an ATK different from their original ATK points. This power affects all monsters on the field, which means Black Comet can't negate it!"

The crystals around Zero Nova Dragon shattered into particles of red energy that went into the emblem on his chest. The dragon reared back his head and breathed out a cold blast of frozen wind that caused Black Comet Dragon to freeze completely and shatter to bits.

All the color completely drained from Dante's face. "This… this can't be! Black Comet Dragon was… was…"

"I'm putting an end to this now!" Cleo declared. "Zero Nova Dragon, attack Fairbanks directly! Burning Zero Force!"

The dragon reared back his head again and fired a massive beam of Crimson light at Dante. Dante was knocked to the ground and his life points dropped to zero in an instant. As soon as his life points hit zero, the crystal pendant hanging from Dante's neck shattered. With the duel finally at an end, Zero Nova Dragon vanished and the surrounding area returned to normal. Rio's eyes shot open and she quickly sat up. As Alyssa rushed over to Dante's side, Cleo walked over to Rio and kneeled down.

"Are you okay?" Cleo asked.

"I'm better now." Rio answered with a relieved sigh.

Cleo pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry if I scared you back there."

A tearful smile formed on Rio's face. "I'm just happy you're okay."

"Ms. Alyssa, is Dante okay?" Michael asked as he walked up.

"Well he's breathing, but he's out cold." Alyssa answered. "I think we need to get him to a hospital."

"We'll leave the island first thing in the morning." Kazuma decided. "For now, I'm sure Faker will be able to take care of him."

"What about Black Comet Dragon?" Robin asked.

"The card isn't in Dante's duel disk." Alyssa informed them.

"Maybe it was destroyed then." Robin assumed.

"Good." Cleo declared. "That's one card that should not be in this world."

* * *

><p>The next morning, Cleo and the others had returned to Obsidian City on the boat that Carly had rented. Right before they had left, Kazuma had checked on the original crystal tablet depicting Black Comet Dragon and found that it had shattered apart. It seemed that evil dragon had truly been slain in Cleo's duel with Dante. Upon their return to Obsidian City, the group promptly turned Brimstone and Splicer into the authorities. Afterwards they had taken the still unconscious Dante to the hospital. The doctors found that Dante was in some kind of coma, but could not find the cause. They were also uncertain about if and when Dante would ever wake up. Alyssa had of course decided to stay by her brother's side to wait for the day he finally would wake up.<p>

Everyone else had since returned to the hotel to make plans for their trips home. Cleo was out in front of the hotel looking out at the island as Carly walked up.

"Well, Robin and I are headed for the airport." Carly told her daughter, getting her attention. "I guess you're going to be traveling to Heartland with Rio and her friends."

"Yeah." Cleo confirmed. "Right now I need to be as close to Rio as possible. Besides, there might actually be some worthy opponents for me in that city."

"I understand completely." Carly told her. "Just promise me you'll keep in touch, okay?"

"I will, mother." Cleo assured her.

"You know, you and Rio really do seem to make a good pair." Carly told her. "I'm happy for you, Cleo."

"Thanks." Cleo told her. "That means a lot."

With that, Carly said her final goodbyes and walked off. Cleo looked back out over the water towards the island. It was that island that was once the capital of the small yet great empire that she built in her former life, and the place where she and Rio had met for the first time. The things that had been left unfinished from that former life had finally been settled. Now she and Rio could move on to a new beginning. Taking one last look at the island, Cleo turned away and walked back towards the hotel.

* * *

><p>Night had fallen on the city, and Rio was in the room she shared with Iris packing up the last of her things. The only thing the blunette had on at the moment was a white bathrobe provided by the hotel. As Rio finished packing, Iris sat on the bed watching T.V.<p>

"I'm guessing you're going over to see Cleo as soon as you're finished packing." Iris spoke, not once taking her eyes off the T.V.

"Uh, that's right." Rio confirmed with a slight blush.

"Well, have fun then." Iris told her. "I guess you're going to be over there all night considering all you have on is that robe. Want me to come over tomorrow morning with a fresh change of clothes?"

"Um… yeah, that's a good idea." Rio agreed, her face turning even redder. "But, um, please knock first when you do?"

"Sure thing." Iris replied.

The conversation ended there and Rio finished packing her bags. She also set aside her outfit for the next day. With her preparations done, Rio quietly left the room and headed for Cleo's. She had learned her new girlfriend's room number as soon as they had gotten back to the hotel earlier that day. Within moments, Rio arrived at the room and knocked on the door. The door opened a crack and Rio saw Cleo's face on the other side.

"Mind if I come in?" Rio asked.

"Not at all." Cleo replied as she opened the door wider to allow her entry.

As soon as Cleo opened the door wider, Rio saw that the only thing she had on was a white towel. Her dark hair was also a bit damp, indicating she had just gotten out of the shower. Her heartbeat increasing, Rio entered the room and shut the door behind her, making very sure to lock it.

"So is something wrong?" Cleo asked as they both walked over towards the bed.

"No. I… just really needed to see you." Rio told her. "I guess I'm still a little shaken up from the duel you had with Dante last night. For a moment during that duel I was afraid I was going to lose you again and there was nothing I could do."

Cleo smiled and pulled her close. "But you did do something. I couldn't have won if you hadn't loaned me your strength."

"I know… but still…" Rio continued.

"Listen to me." Cleo spoke as she gently took hold of her chin. "You're never going to lose me like that again. I promise you that. This time you've got me for good."

Rio gave Cleo a tearful smile and the two of them quickly became locked in a deep kiss. For a while they explored one another's mouths with their tongues before being forced to break apart for air. Rio then pulled away and undid her robe and let it carelessly fall to the floor. Cleo blushed upon seeing Rio completely nude. With the taller girl left stunned by what she was seeing, Rio took the opportunity and deftly removed the towel Cleo had on, exposing Cleo's own nakedness.

Rio stood there, taking in how beautiful Cleo was. Her eyes fixed on Cleo's full breasts and toned abs. She was stunning enough to be a goddess. After a moment, Rio moved in and began to suck on Cleo's neck, earning some moans of pleasure from the taller girl. On reflex, Cleo put her arms around the blunette.

"R-Rio." Cleo managed to speak between moans. "Are… are you sure you want to do… do this?"

Rio pulled away and looked at Cleo with very big pinkish eyes. Cleo could see that Rio really needed to be close to her at that moment, and she had to admit that she felt the same thing. After a brief moment of silence, Cleo let Rio continue her ministrations. Over time the blunette moved down and began to kiss Cleo's collarbone, much to the dark-haired girl's delight. There was no going back for Cleo at that moment. She had become too lost in pleasure to stop.

Rio continued to move downward overtime, leaving a trail of fiery kisses as she went until she was on her knees. After a moment's hesitation, Rio leaned in and began to probe Cleo's moist womanhood with her tongue. Cleo threw her head back and let out a deep moan as Rio explored her opening. She had lost all sense of time and where she was. It was just the two of them there lost in a sea of pleasure.

As Cleo began to feel herself nearing her climax, she held onto the back of Rio's head and began to move her hips to help herself along though. It seemed like it was taking her forever to get there though, not that she was in any hurry to get there though. After what seemed almost like an eternity, Cleo finally climaxed.

Still on her knees, Rio pulled away and looked up at her. "I'm all yours. Do whatever you want with me."

A large grin appeared on Cleo's face. In that moment she became determined to give Rio a night of pleasure that she would never forget. She swiftly pulled Rio to her feet and turned her around. Pulling the blunette close, Cleo reached around and began to massage Rio's breasts, every now and then pinching her already erect nipples. The sound of Rio's soft gentle moans were music to Cleo's ears.

Eventually Cleo's right hand moved down and she inserted two fingers into Rio's wet entrance. Rio winced a bit as Cleo's two digits penetrated her. Cleo waited to move her hands to allow Rio time to get used to the feeling. At the same time she continued to play with Rio's left breast to keep her mind off the pain. It wasn't long though before Rio gave her lover the okay to begin moving her right hand.

Cleo began to pump her fingers in and out of the blunette at a gentle pace. Rio urged her to go in deeper and harder, a request that Cleo easily granted. After a long yet uncertain amount of time, Cleo began to feel Rio's inner walls tightening around her fingers. Cleo picked up her pace to help her along, and soon Rio climaxed calling Cleo's name. Before Rio could recover from her orgasm, Cleo turned her around and pushed her onto the bed on her back.

Getting on her knees, Cleo spread Rio's legs apart and moved in. Gently, she blew on Rio's still moist womanhood, causing the younger girl to moan with delight. Smirking, Cleo moved in and began to probe Rio with her tongue. Rio arched her back and her toes curled. Her fingers dug tightly into the bed sheets like a pair of talons. The feeling of Cleo's tongue exploring her felt far too amazing to put into words.

After what seemed like another eternity, Rio climaxed again, struck with an orgasm that was stronger than the last. With Rio recovering the second wave of pleasure that hit her, Cleo crawled up onto her and they became locked in another deep passionate kiss. Eventually they broke apart and Cleo sat up on top of her.

Cleo looked down at her lover with a large grin. "I'm not done with you yet, my little Snowflake."

With that, Cleo took hold of Rio's left leg and repositioned herself so that her own opening was pressed against the blunette's. She then began to buck her hips into Rio, causing both her and the younger girl to moan. Over time both their bodies became covered in sweat. Eventually Cleo picked up the pace as she felt herself coming towards the edge. Rio urged her to go faster, as it wasn't going to be much longer for her either. With one last hard thrust from Cleo, the two of them managed to hit their climax at the same moment. Rio's eyes went wide as everything went white. Then she passed out.

With a satisfied grin, Cleo got off Rio and with the last of her energy pulled the covers over them both. She then pulled Rio close and kissed her on the forehead. On reflex, the unconscious Rio cuddled up closer to her. Cleo let out a contented sigh and closed her eyes before slowly drifting off to sleep.

* * *

><p>Rio gently awoke from her deep sleep to find Cleo's face just inches away from her own. Her cheeks reddened as she instantly recalled all the things that she and Cleo the night before. Those memories were confirmed with the feeling of Cleo's naked skin against her own.<p>

Cleo soon woke up and smiled at her. "Good morning, my love."

"Good morning." Rio replied. The two of them shared a light kiss on the lips and sighed, reveling in the afterglow from the night before.

"So… today we leave for Heartland." Cleo spoke. "It's been a very long time since I've been to that city."

"I hope you and my brother can get along better this time." Rio told her.

"Don't worry. I'll do my best to be nice to him." Cleo assured her. "I know how important he is to you."

"Well hopefully this time he'll be a lot nicer to you." Rio replied. "Especially since he might have a girlfriend now."

"And who might this girlfriend be?" Cleo asked.

"This one girl that Ryoga and I met years ago when we were younger." Rio answered. "Her name's Hikari Fudo. My brother had a pretty big crush on her."

"Wait, your brother might be dating my cousin?" a somewhat surprised Cleo asked.

"Your cousin?" an equally surprised Rio responded.

"My father and Hikari's grew up together at the same orphanage." Cleo explained. "We may not be related by blood, but we are family. I had no idea that you even knew her."

"Are you and Hikari close?" Rio asked.

"Well… let's just say we have our differences." Cleo replied. "But we get along pretty well for the most part."

"Well right now, I'm just happy that you're coming home with me." Rio told her.

"So… how much time before we have to make our plane?" Cleo asked.

Rio sat up a little to view the clock on the wall. "We've got about an hour before we have to get ready to leave."

"Good." Cleo replied. "Because I'm far than ready to leave yet."

The two of them joined in yet another kiss as Cleo rolled so that she was on top of Rio. It was going to be a little while longer before they got out of bed.

THE END

* * *

><p><strong>Afterward:<strong> I really hope everyone enjoyed this story I've written. I'll admit that there are probably a few parts of it that I could've done better, and I'm sorry if this story seemed more like a 5D's fanfic instead of a ZEXAL fanfic. One of the reasons why I was never able to get my original Signers vs. Barians idea off the ground was because the idea of Cleo having a romantic relationship with Rio felt like it needed to be a story all it's own. And it was a story that I had really wanted to do for about a year I think. I don't remember exactly how I came up with the idea of Cleo and Rio as a couple, but the idea really just clicked with me.

While this story may be over, I can say that I will be doing more ZEXAL stories in the future. I will also eventually do the 5D's Alternative sequel that tells the story of how Cleo and the other second generation Signers got started. I also have an idea for a direct _Vampire Papillon_ sequel suggested by K.I.T.T. RIDER that's just too good not for me to do, though it'll probably take some time for me to get it off the ground. In the more immediate future though, I think the ZEXAL stories I'll be doing will focus a little more on Rio, Shark, their respective girlfriends and the rest of the former Barian Emperors. For now, I'd like to thank everyone who has read, reviewed, followed or favorited this story. This really was a thrill for me to work on.

Please review and let me know what you think.


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